United Bermuda Party leader Grant Gibbons has hit back at comments made in the Press recently by Derrick Burgess of the Bermuda Industrial Union.

Mr. Burgess had said Dr. Gibbons failed to stand up for MP John Barritt when he was forced out of law firm Appleby Spurling Hunter because of his political commitments last year.

He made the remarks in the light of support by Dr. Gibbons of new senator Gina Spence Farmer, whose employer Bermuda College is refusing to allow her time off to further her political career.

However, Dr. Gibbons said that he had indeed stood up for Mr. Barritt, citing a Royal Gazette article from May 2004 as evidence of this.

"Derrick Burgess's comments are wrong. He didn't do his homework," he said.