The United Bermuda Party does not endorse a reintroduction of capital punishment or flogging.

Its leader Michael Dunkley said that neither capital nor corporal punishment were included in their Agenda for Change or full platform, which will be unveiled on Monday.

Yesterday a Progressive Labour Party advertisement ran in both local papers saying Bermuda was in "grave danger" because Mr. Dunkley was calling for a "regime of extreme right wing measures such as: hanging, flogging...".

But yesterday Mr. Dunkley said: "We have nothing about hanging or flogging in our platform.

"Those policies are not even coming up in the party or when we go to constituents."

And he called on the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) to concentrate on the issues and "stop this nonsense".

UBP Chairman Shawn Crockwell said: "The only reason they are talking about flogging is because they know it appeals to people's emotions."

Flogging was a popular way to enforce obedience and discipline in slaves during slavery.

But PLP chairman David Burt said the advertisement was based on the fact that Mr. Dunkley voted against abolishing capital and corporal punishment during a House of Assembly debate in 1999. Section 53 (d) of the abolished Act condoned "imposition of whipping as a kind of punishment".

The eight hour debate saw many politicians stand and discuss capital punishment, though no one discussed flogging. Mr. Dunkley did not speak on the issue during that session of the House of Assembly.

In a 2002 article in The Royal Gazette Mr. Dunkley said he believed that the death penalty was justified in extreme cases but stressed that his party did not support his views and added that he was speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of his party. Flogging was not mentioned in the article.

Mr. Burt said he did not believe the advert was misleading: "His past positions may be politically inconvenient, but Mr. Dunkley has repeatedly stated he wants to discuss the issues and the record.

"When the PLP stood up to ban hanging and flogging, Michael Dunkley said no. There is nothing that leads us to believe his position has changed."

A UBP spokesman said: "The PLP's attempt to justify today's newspaper smear advertisement is as dishonest as it is desperate.

"Their ad says that Mr. Dunkley 'calls for a regime of extreme right wing measures such as hanging, flogging etc.' This is an absolutely false allegation.

"Mr. Dunkley and the United Bermuda Party do not call for these measures. The PLP knows this and it should withdraw this contemptible falsehood."