United Bermuda Party stalwart Maxwell Burgess has called for leader Wayne Furbert to resign after blasting him for mishandling internal splits.

Mr. Burgess said more should have been done to help two senior members who quit in frustration after alleging a white clique was running the United Bermuda Party. Both Pembroke West MP Jamahl Simmons and party chairman Gwyneth Rawlins bailed out in the last ten days for the same reasons ? prompting Mr. Furbert to allege it was part of an orchestrated campaign.

But Mr. Burgess, who also confirmed he would retire at the next election, said: "Wayne Furbert should do the honourable thing and go."

Mr. Burgess admitted the party was hampered by its image of putting whites first and that unaddressed perception was reality in the minds of voters.

"If people perceive there's a backroom group that's running things, that's their reality." And he indicated he might reconsider his decision to retire as Hamilton South MP if the leadership changed.

"But I won't be party to Bermuda getting a second-tier Opposition."

He said no one was admitting there was a problem but it needed fixing for the good of the country.

The party wouldn't have suffered the same problems if Grant Gibbons had been still in the job, said Mr. Burgess.

"Grant Gibbons understands Bermuda and the importance of keeping the party together."

Asked about Mr. Furbert's main faults he said he had not done enough to deal with complaints by Jamahl Simmons and Gwyneth Rawlins.

"You have to do something about it and if there's nothing you can do you have to ask yourself is there something wrong with the constitution of the party, the format of the party, the base of the party?"

However Mr. Furbert said he had no intention of offering himself up to a vote of no confidence having the previous evening got the full support of the party's central executive.

A shocked John Barritt said he was surprised at Mr. Burgess's outburst but he said Mr. Furbert still had his full support. "One person can't be blamed for all that has happened."

Asked if a vote of confidence was needed to clear the air Mr. Barritt said he would talk it over with colleagues including Mr. Furbert and would not be rushed into taking a position.

Mr. Burgess said he would keep up the campaign with a further statement next week prompting Mr. Furbert to reply: "He can repeat himself."

However one shell-shocked MP said: "I don't know what's coming next mate."

Yesterday had begun with Mr. Furbert holding a press conference to respond to Ms Rawlins, who had said there was still "a group of whites who seemingly have enjoyed control all this time and want to maintain it".

Those assertions were untrue and malicious said Mr. Furbert who said: "What has happened and what has been said has all the appearances of an orchestrated campaign."

However he declined to say who was behind the alleged plot but said the party would fight on as he introduced new chairman Shawn Crockwell, a lawyer who has reformed his life after being convicted for stealing $600,000 of heroin in 1995.

Mr. Furbert, who has been in charge of the party for just a year after Grant Gibbons was ousted by fellow MPs, was asked if he could have done things differently to stop the resignations.

He said: "Yes, but the problem is I don't know what they are.

"We tried to reach out to both of them ? even when we heard possible rumours about what was going to take place yesterday.

"It didn't come as a complete surprise, that's why we believe it is part of an orchestrated campaign."

Last year Sir John Swan called for whites to step back from political leadership but Mr. Furbert said: "We believe we need black and white candidates."

Asked if the party was in need of widespread reform he said: "We have reformed, that's what took place in 1968."

Mr. Crockwell, who was elected deputy chairman of the UBP in December, admitted the task facing the UBP was not easy.

And he denied, along with Mr. Furbert, ever being hampered by whites within the party hierarchy pulling the strings.

Mr. Crockwell said: "I have been a member of this party since 2004 and I have no idea whom Ms Rawlins is referring to.

"For the past year she has been very encouraging in getting me involved at this level of the party and it comes as a shock to me she has now stepped away one month after she was elected party chairman."

And Deputy Leader Michael Dunkley said the two senior members who had ditched had not been helpful when the leadership had reached out to lend a hand.

He said: "Politics is tough and you have to find common ground with people, given and take, but I think both those people were unwilling to do that.

"Wayne is one of the most amenable people to try to find common ground."

Mr. Dunkley said disagreements were natural in a diverse party. "It is a political party, it is not a birthday party."

He said if two people of the same race clashed it was seen simply as a disagreement. "We have as a community got to stop castigating ourselves when it is a white person and a black person involved."