On Friday night Premier Alex Scott and his former deputy Ewart Brown will go head to head in front of more than 150 delegates and MPs in a fight for the leadership of the Progressive Labour Party. If he loses, Dr. Brown will walk away from politics while defeat for Mr. Scott will almost certainly spell the end of his long political career. Here former PLP MP Julian Hall, who many in the party regard as lost leader, explains to Matthew Taylor why he is backing Dr. Brown.

For a man who counts Alex Scott as a ?dear, dear friend?, Julian Hall certainly doesn?t mince his words on the Premier?s shortcomings.

Isolated, aggressive, dictatorial and surrounded by ?yes men? was Mr. Hall?s verdict on Mr. Scott, who was slammed for toadying to the church lobby and marginalising talented colleagues, including Dr. Brown.

In short, Mr. Hall said Mr. Scott had failed and Dr. Brown must have been moved to run because he couldn?t get over to Mr. Scott that the Government was going in the wrong direction.

?Is Alex Scott so isolated? Is he so hermetic that he can?t communicate on a regular basis, preferably one-on-one, weekly with his own elected deputy?? asked Mr. Hall.

?Do we now have to face the prospect of one of the few ? and he really is one of the few ? competent, efficient, politically educated and socially and economically sophisticated members of the Cabinet say if ?I can?t take the party further along the vision I perceive for the country then I have to retire from politics altogether??

?I can understand thoroughly what he feels, having myself been left out in the wilderness all these years, made every effort to reach out, many times publicly, saying why the leadership is adrift and losing sight of the labour movement?s real vision and losing the confidence of the people of Bermuda.

?But to no avail. It would be tragic thing. In better times I would have been able to try to engineer a pact between the two.

?If only Alex Scott could recognise just how isolated he?s made himself and how disappointed some of his very, very best friends ? and I definitely number myself among those ? have become at the quality and nature of his leadership.

?If he is taking counsel at all from anybody it is clearly from the wrong people. He ought to have taken greater counsel from Dr. Brown and some of us who really care.?

Now the choice of who will lead Bermuda is effectively in the hands of the PLP delegates, whom Mr. Hall fears have largely been handpicked by party chiefs to deliver victory to Mr. Scott. Urging them to vote on conscience, he said: ?There is no question of what their choice should be. I say this as a long time friend of Alex Scott ? one who loves him like a brother ? his leadership is just not cutting it. He?s failed.

?Even as a public relations expert he has been his own worst client. I don?t want to get personal, because I do love the man, but his personality is not what you would expect of a political leader.

?They don?t get more hermitic than Alex Scott except maybe in North Korea. I am serious! Nobody knows who he takes advice from ? or even if he takes advice from anybody.

?Most Cabinet Ministers are afraid to confront him. He has a problem with dissent and dispute which causes him to go immediately on the most aggressive defence at the first sign of anyone disagreeing with him. That is not good in a political leader.?

He said the Premier should be ?first among equals? not an elected dictator as was happening in Britain under Tony Blair.

?You can?t have it in a small island like Bermuda ? you elect these leaders to work it out together. If you have a Premier who cannot even communicate properly in a collegial way with his own Deputy Premier you have a problem. The party put the two together as a compromise in the hopes that the two factions would be melded together. But after the first week or two it just never happened.?

He said Mr. Scott should have picked a better Cabinet, been more open to criticism and recognised he shouldn?t have handled his own PR. A public relations professional who relies only on his own advice for PR is in deep doo-doo. If anything he has encouraged the drift of traditional labour supporters away from the PLP. He has increased the sense of alienation.?

Mr. Hall ? who was an advisor to the 11 rebel MPs who turfed out Jennifer Smith against the wishes of the delegates who had confirmed her leadership only months earlier ? said Mr. Scott?s choices of Cabinet Minister indicated desperation.

?I have little doubt that some Cabinet Ministers are held on not so much because of their competence but because of their loyalty and the loyalty the Premier may feel to them in ensuring they rake in a pay cheque. That?s a fact.?

Expanding his theme on Cabinet appointments, Mr. Hall said: ?Again we come back to David Burch ? he?s a wonderful guy.

?He certainly is one of the few in the Cabinet who I regard as efficient, business-like and competent, I give him all of the that. But was I not right when I said he was a PR trainwreck in slow motion? In not only appointing Burch in the first place but increasing his power as non-elected member of the parliamentary process, by giving him a powerful portfolio like tourism ? what message is sent to those on the other side of the party?

?It is cocking a snook. It is bizarre to me. The mind boggles about how many potential travel agents and tourists are going to be moved to come to Bermuda. It just doesn?t work.?

Asked if the Burch appointment was an attempt to shore up the Jennifer Smith wing of the party Mr. Hall said: ?I don?t think so. I think it is an attempt to have, to the greatest degree possible, people around him who he can trust and people who he can rely upon to say yes.?

But he said good leaders recognised they headed a broad range of opinion based around common goals.

?He has to recognise that he has to embrace all factions. A strong and able leader knows how not just to embrace them but juggle them and get the best out of them. The best thing that has ever happened to the PLP is the UBP ? if they were not so uninspiring then the PLP might as well sell Alaska Hall and get out of the business.

?They ought to consider themselves bloody lucky the UBP is such a banal, boring mess.?

Rather than embracing Dr. Brown?s ideas, he said the Premier had sought to stifle him.

?Bermuda is still a boring country. It still offers for far too heavy a price, a far too inferior product. Ewart Brown has done a tremendous job in increasing airlift to Bermuda. He has worked consistently on increasing the number of beds available.

?But he has been totally frustrated in his effort to bring the leadership to a model for Bermuda which is more visitor-friendly, which offers more to the visitor and provides the basis for a better product.

?Some of us take very great issue with the very dictatorial approach taken by Premier Scott over casinos and gaming machines in Bermuda.

?There?s so much hypocrisy and double standards coming out of the churches in Bermuda. There is no wonder the Bible tells us the anti-Christ will be in the Church.

?For politicians to play this power game is dangerous for any democracy which values the separation of church and state.

?There are limits to which every political entity can or should impose morality on its individuals and with this Government we have crossed the line.

?I have no doubt whatsoever that both parties are playing this silly game, not just the PLP. And the religious leaders love it because, as far as they are concerned, they can play both sides against the middle and they can leave both sides believing they have their support when in fact neither has it.

?It is ultimately a no-win game for political leaders. They shouldn?t be doing this. Just like with Ren?e Webb?s bill, which was only seeking to bring Bermuda into the 20th century when we are now in the 21st anyway. This Government were made to look like cowardly fools by the decision not even to debate it.

?It will take a long time for the current leadership to regain my respect having regarded to the stand they took on the so-called gay rights bill which wasn?t even a gay rights bill.?

Mr. Hall said of the political/religious alliance: ?It?s a form of double prostitution in which one prostitute is plying his or her trade to another. And God will not strike me down dead for saying so.?

Stressing he wasn?t part of the Brown team in any capacity, Mr. Hall said a Dr. Brown premiership ?would make Bermuda a more visitor friendly and less oppressive place, whether it?s a better and bigger range of entertainment including gambling?.

He described Dr. Brown as the ?ultimate strategist?. ?That has produced wonderful dividends in the context of his stewardship of the tourism portfolio.?

The wider issues for Mr. Hall include expanding the economy and economic opportunity while preserving Bermuda?s charm.

?It requires a lot more than woolly position papers on sustainable development and timid approaches to black economic empowerment. It requires some very, very carefully thought but direct measures.?

Young Bermudians are increasingly alienated from the Island and the political process, said Mr. Hall. ?There is little evidence their concerns are being addressed or anyone even cares about them.?

Mr. Hall, who splits his time between New York and Bermuda, said he kept his ear close to the ground and had a better understanding of Bermuda politics than most people based solely on the Island. ?I am amazed about the calls I get on any given day about what?s happening.?

But despite coming out in favour of Dr. Brown, Mr. Hall did not want to predict who would win the election because of problems in the way the delegates were selected.

He said: ?I have great problems with the way the PLP is run. It really is just a clique, it?s just a toy that very few people ? I am not among them ? take great pleasure in playing with.

?They view the party as their property and are quite frankly prepared to mow down anybody who tries to, without invitation, take over their property. They have that system down pat.?

Mr. Hall, who said he had been ? until recently ? actively considering returning his life membership of the PLP, pointed out that polls said 40 percent of Bermudian voters don?t want to support either party at the next election.

He warned: ?Whoever assumes this leadership needs to work with that number.?