Business leader Cyril Whitter has resigned as a member of two Progressive Labour Party committees — telling chairman Maynard Dill “the leadership of my beloved party stinks”.

This is according to correspondence seen by this newspaper, e-mailed by Mr Whitter to Mr Dill on Tuesday, shortly after former shadow tourism minister Zane DeSilva was “removed” as a member of the PLP’s finance committee.

In what is understood to be his resignation e-mail from both the finance committee and candidates committee, Mr Whitter told Mr Dill: “Please consider this my final communication. I hereby resign as a member of both the finance committee and the candidates committee with immediate effect. The leadership of my beloved party stinks. You are proving woefully inadequate and lacking in the wisdom needed to navigate our challenges. On the parliamentary group side, the leadership challenge is the same. Because I love both you and Marc [Bean, the PLP leader] dearly, I am hopeful that your transitions into roles within the party, more suited to your skill sets, will happen sooner rather than later.”

The message was sent to 11 people, including Mr Bean, deputy leader David Burt, Mr DeSilva, and MPs Walter Roban and Dennis Lister.

When contacted by The Royal Gazette, Mr Whitter, who is president and chief executive at management services facility Independent Management Ltd, would not confirm or deny his resignation, telling us he did not wish to discuss internal matters in a public forum.

However, he did say: “I am completely and fully committed to the PLP and I continue to work to ensure that the party is strong. It is my intent to continue to work with the party and for the party indefinitely. I am going to ensure that I can do everything that I possibly can as a member and an engaged person within the party.”

Mr DeSilva was one of seven MPs to quit the Shadow Cabinet last month, announcing publicly that he could no longer serve under Mr Bean.

The e-mail chain from this Tuesday begins with Mr Dill writing to Mr DeSilva: “I regret to inform you that you have been removed as a member of the finance committee, effective immediately. I wish to thank you for your valued service.”

Mr Whitter replied that such a move would “weaken the team”, explaining: “I have been totally impressed with Zane’s energy and commitment to the PLP finance committee.”

Mr Dill responded: “The final decision of all committees rests solely with the leader.”

While Mr Whitter refused to talk about why he decided to resign, he told this newspaper: “Every organisation goes through its challenges and difficulties — the UBP went through it and the OBA.

“We have to work through, as organisations, the challenges that we face. It is no different from the country. We as a country have to work through the challenges that we face as a country. A party is just a microcosm of the country.”

Mr Dill and Mr Bean, through the PLP’s public relations office, did not respond to a request for a comment yesterday.