Ewart Brown and his ten dissident colleagues who succeeded in ousting Jennifer Smith from the Premiership may have to endure a backlash from the people who matter most - the grassroots supporters of the Progressive Labour Party.

Many supporters interviewed by The Royal Gazette outside Sunday night's delegates conference felt embarrassed and angry that the Party Leader they had selected had to put up with another leadership challenge hours after leading them to victory.

The party constitution is designed to allow the grassroots supporters as much say as possible and the leadership is selected through delegates elected by the members.

The expectation throughout the party is the party leader is Premier when the party is in power.

And, as Dr. Brown would admit at the end of the three day drama, he and his 11 rebels had misled the voters.

Judging from comments gathered on the grounds of Devonshire Recreation Club, where the lengthy delegates conference took place last weekend, Dr. Brown faces a steep uphill climb to get some of the party supporters to accept his apology.

"It's distasteful," said Craig Clarke, a 34-year-old prison officer. "For them to try to remove the Premier the way they're doing."

Mr. Clarke, a PLP member, was so angry that he refused to exercise his right to attend the conference and contribute to the proceedings.

But he turned up Sunday on the club grounds and agreed to say what he thought.

The rebels had the opportunity to vote for a new Leader at the party's annual conference, he said.

"It's a total disrespect for the voters. The people that put them in power were on Court Street the other night and they had total disrespect and disdain for those voters. They couldn't even think beyond themselves. It tells me that certain members of the PLP have their own political agenda."

Mr. Clarke said that he and others may not like the way Ms Smith had discharged her duties over the last five years.

"I find her aloof. I find her to be a bit arrogant. But if you live in a parish like Devonshire or Pembroke you understand the complexities of voting - strictly party lines. That's how I was raised."

But Mr. Clarke said he was most upset by the fact that the "rebel 11" did not show up at Court Street.

"There were 4, 5, 6 thousand people looking for their candidates that they put in power...It is embarrassing and a blight on black people in this country."

He said : "I don't think the Premier is the best one for the job ... but I still say there's a better way of doing things in this country."

A 24-year-old hairstylist agreed that the whole episode was "embarrassing" and "a disgrace to the public".

"People need to think about the people and how they feel. It's not about power but the people's feelings. I voted for the PLP as a party.

"I wouldn't have a problem with this if they did it with respect. They should wait until the delegates' meeting in November. People went out and voted for the rebels. They should have come out with this before the election."

On Friday, the first day of the PLP's delegate's meeting to sort out the question of leadership, musician Shine Hayward told The Royal Gazette: "I feel as though the people of Bermuda were deceived.

"I'm very disappointed, I guess, in the move by these dissidents the day after. Today they are presenting themselves as independents, as far as I'm concerned. They used the PLP as a means for them to get in the House, and also the vote of the constituents.

"I feel that if the people of Bermuda who voted for them knew of their intentions I do not feel they would have gotten those votes."

Asked if he felt the people of Bermuda wanted Jennifer Smith to remain Premier, he said: "Whether they do or do not, there's a way to do this. And what's going on right now is something that should have been done in-house.

"So they can say to the people of Bermuda that we are unified, we are united. And they do what they have to do in a unified and constructive way."

He said even if Ms Smith's leadership had divided the parliamentary group, the party still had the right to elect their leader - "in a proper way, not like this".

Only one person actually focused on Ms Smith's perceived shortcomings.

"She didn't know how to handle criticism. She is a miserable person," said an 18-year-old student.

"She knows her job but she doesn't know how to keep a group together."

Dr. Brown, who landed the deputy leadership after the often acrimonious meeting, was well aware of the depth of feeling and resentment directed against him and apologised to the members in his leadership bid speech to the delegates.

"If the Premier will allow me I will lead the way back to those people who were hurt and disappointed and explain to them that sometimes in politics you have to go backwards," he told the media later. "Go backwards or hold before you can go forward. We had a disagreement and we worked it out."