Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards yesterday confirmed he wants to take over from Kim Swan as leader of the United Bermuda Party as soon as possible.

Mr. Richards told The Royal Gazette young MPs who quit the party in frustration last month had seen their calls for reform stonewalled by Mr. Swan.

He said he has put together a plan to bring the UBP back from its lowest ebb and has had positive feedback after sharing his proposal with party colleagues.

One of the key parts of his strategy, he said, is to replace Mr. Swan.

"When a team is on a losing streak, they change the manager, they change the coach — they change the leader," said Mr. Richards yesterday.

"Changing a leader is a signal that reform is on the way.

"My being involved in a challenge for the leadership is part of the reform process. I have told my colleagues in no uncertain terms that I come to you as an agent of change."

Mr. Richards said he believes he has support from the UBP's remaining MPs, but a leadership challenge will have to wait until the party's constitution is amended to allow more members a say in who leads the party.

Any challenge is unlikely to happen before the next parliamentary session begins in early November, due to the slowness of the process involved, he said.

The UBP has lost five MPs in the past 12 months and has suffered numerous resignations across the branches in recent weeks, with members complaining about its failure to reform.

Mr. Richards refuted suggestions that he was part of a group of non-reformists within the UBP, saying: "It's been clear to me that we need to make some significant changes. It's been clear to me for some time.

"Our younger members, we all know who they are — I was not leading the charge but I was certainly sympathetic to most of what they were saying. But they were meeting with a stonewall from the leader.

"A lot of people, they have been painted as non-reformists, and they have been outraged. I have been improperly categorised, that's for sure.

"Just because you are not particularly vocal about it doesn't mean you don't agree with it.

"Instead of just complaining that nothing has happened I decided to see what I could come up with in terms of a plan.

"There's a lot of other work to do in our party. I have put together a plan which I have shown to all the MPs and senators and some other members of the party, including some of the members that left. It was done before they left.

"I know they were frustrated. I think a lot of us were frustrated.

"I started to show these things around in August. I showed a number of the members that spun off. A lot of that they agreed with, at least that's what they told me."

His plan involves creating a vision for the party instead of concentrating solely on reacting to Government, and showing how the UBP could help all children get a good education and young people fulfil their career goals.

Asked how he could be an improvement on Mr. Swan, Mr. Richards replied: "I have a plan."

Asked whether Mr. Swan does not have a plan, he said: "I'm not going to say that, but I have a plan," adding that Mr. Swan had been in charge while a lot of frustration had built up.

Previously, only MPs have voted for the party's new leader, but that process is being widened out to include senators, the central executive and branch members.

Amendments will need to be made to the party's constitution at a special meeting before the leadership bid takes place.

"In a perfect world, it's probably still possible to do it before the House goes back but I think the probabilities are fading every day," said Mr. Richards.

"Some people are waiting to see some movements and action, something definitive.

"I think people in our party are looking for a change ... but instead of change we should be looking for improvement. We are also looking for some sort of hope, healing. The leadership we have had of this Country has torn open wounds and rubbed salt in them."

If successful in his bid to replace Mr. Swan, Mr. Richards said he would seek to welcome back the MPs who have defected in recent weeks leaving the party with just nine members in the House of Assembly.

"I would love for them to come back. I certainly would put in a plan to seriously look at a lot of those things that they wanted to do," he said.

"We must continue to have an open dialogue with these gentlemen. They come from philosophically the same place the rest of us come from or else they wouldn't have joined the party in the first place.

"There's more that unites us than divides us."