Bermuda Blue: Are we witnessing return of the UBP?

The resignation by Craig Cannonier was inevitable after the Sun published its story last week when Nathan Landow admitted that he and others did give around $300,000 to a group called the Bermuda Political Action Club.

I think this was the final nail in the coffin for the Premier — the Party could not withstand that.

Now Michael Dunkley has taken over as Premier until the OBA party meets to decide who the next leader will be — and the odds are that it will be Mr Dunkley who has consistently polled well, better than Mr Cannonier.

The problem, though, is that the perception of many will be that the UBP is back in power. Jonathan Starling was at Cabinet when Mr Dunkley held a press conference and he heard people shouting ‘UBP 2.0’.

The headline is a rhetorical question, but will it resonate with the electorate, especially the swing voters? There is an onus now on the ‘new’ OBA MPs to step up from the backbenches and make some noise in order to convince the voters that the wheel has not turned full circle.

As for Mr Cannonier, well it was inevitable. He said nothing illegal has happened, but mud sticks. For the good of the party he had to go, and go well before the next election. 

It will be interesting to see how having a former Premier on the backbenches will work. It could still be a distraction.

The OBA has a lot of rebuilding to do now — as a party and as a viable election-winning organization.

P.S. Does this mean that the official party investigation is over now?

P.P.S: I’ve taken a bit of a bashing on Facebook for raising this issue and not ‘letting it go’. But I think it is a perception issue that the OBA are going to have to overcome. The Senate has OBA members, but the majority of Cabinet consists of former UBP MPs. 

Jeremy Deacon writes the blog Bermuda Blue and runs public relations company Deep Blue Communications. You can email your thoughts to [email protected] or tweet with him: @jeremydeacon1