Dear Sir,

Please accept my tribute to the late Arthur Hodgson, former minister and MP of the Progressive Labour Party of Bermuda, and condolences to his granddaughter, the senator Arianna Hodgson, and the rest of the family.

I am deeply saddened by the passing of my good friend and brother Arthur.

I am doubly sorry that I was unable to be in Bermuda for the funeral but I was on an assignment overseas that I was unable to neglect. But for that, I would have moved heaven and earth to be there.

When we met at the University of Buckingham so many years ago, we hit it off immediately. That we were both PLPs, me just aspiring to a public life but with a background in political organising and he a former Member of Parliament, it was a great blend.

We spent countless hours talking about the future, analysing the past and watching events in both our countries as they unfolded while we wiled away our time in school.

Upon returning home, the relationship continued. I was sent to Bermuda to represent our party at the General Election of 1998 and was there for subsequent elections. During my time there, he actually drove me from polling place to place and introduced me to the contestants from both sides.

But he loved the PLP. He was a strong PLP supporter but also strong in his own ideas about how life should be.

When I visited Bermuda last year, it was clear that the energy was ebbing. But I am happy I had the opportunity to speak with him and hear his plans for coming back.

Alas, the Master had other plans. He celebrates his birthday in the great beyond, but I am sure that he is in a better place, and one day we will meet again.

On behalf of your Bahamian PLP family, I extend condolences to your family on his passing.

May he rest in peace.

PLP all the way!

FRED MITCHELL

Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Public Service

Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party