Opposition MPs face a dilemma - whether to stick to their guns or try something new to attract voters.

Here senior United Bermuda Party backbencher Trevor Moniz chews over the issues.

As an MP who once had the whip withdrawn because of his maverick ways it is perhaps no surprise Trevor Moniz has sympathy with colleagues who are bucking the norm by trying to transform the three-times defeated United Bermuda Party into an election-winning vehicle.

But like many in the party he realises the UBP does not want to repeat the mistakes the PLP made in the mid-1980s when an acrimonious split led to the formation of the National Liberal Party and handed the Government several easy election victories.

However, clearly something has to change said Mr. Moniz who believes the December election showed the electorate is pretty fixed with a tiny percentage of voters willing to change their allegiance despite all sorts of interesting and ultimately misleading polls before the election.

Mr. Moniz added that the various issues seemed to make little difference to the electorate.

"I started to ask myself did anything make a difference? People know how they are going to vote virtually no matter what happens. There are very few people who change their vote.

"I think when you get these pendulum swings in politics they go for a long period. Look at the UK, you had the Margaret Thatcher years or the Tony Blair years.

"You don't get these shifts each election from one Government to a new Government, you seem to get a Government in power for ten or 15 years before there's a shift.

"That's true in the US with most presidents doing eight years.

"There is nothing to indicate there will be a sudden swing, you have seen very little movement over the past elections and that is why I am saying you have to try new approaches by reaching out to swing voters.

"You have to figure out who will listen to your message and who will reach them. We obviously didn't reach them with the leader and campaign we had last year and we need to go back to the drawing board."

Leaders needed to appeal to swing voters more than the base, said Mr. Moniz. "I think all the leaders we have had which includes David Saul, Pam Gordon, Grant Gibbons, none of those appealed to swing voters in any substantial fashion.

"The only one I thought who appealed to swing voters was Wayne Furbert. Swing voters are black voters. I thought he would appeal to them but unfortunately we had all the problems with a variety of people, Jamahl, Gwyneth and Maxwell."

Asked why he had declined to serve under current leader Kim Swan, Mr. Moniz said: "I didn't feel I had a clear understanding of his vision so therefore I didn't think it would be fair to serve on his Shadow Cabinet.

"But he calls me for my view on issues, he's invited me to functions and is clearly making a big effort to formulate who he is as a leader which takes a bit of time, to be fair to him.

"He's said his Shadow Cabinet might be reviewed in time. I might review my position in time. But I need a clearer view of where he's going."

Some MPs, including Shawn Crockwell, believe whites associated with elite privilege need to step aside for the UBP to progress.

Probed on this Mr. Moniz said: "You are talking about people who are seen as the old white establishment? To my mind that was true of Michael Dunkley as well. I always wondered whether having Michael Dunkley as leader was a good way to present the United Bermuda Party.

"But it has to happen with someone coming forward to take the reigns of power with a vision. I think that is lacking. You need someone coming forward with a vision and people gathering around that vision.

"An individual cannot do it on their own, you have to have people around you who believe in your vision. It is possible to remake the UBP but not to rebrand it - that's a purely superficial shallow thinking.

"Remaking it would be fundamental change but you have to have a vision of fundamental change."

"It is not a case of getting rid of people, it is a case of attracting new people. If you are going to canvass you have to have people who are attractive to swing voters and not turn off your core support. If you can do those two things you are well on your way to winning an election.

"You have to have credibility to the broader public."

"I think the core of the UBP needs to reach out and attract new people. If you go to a UBP meeting you tend to find the old, solid supporters, who are mainly white and older."

The UBP's internal review needed to look at election results, argued Mr. Moniz. "We had certain seats which were up in terms of popular support and certain seats that were down.

"We need to look at why. I don't have an answer for that now."

Mr. Moniz said politics was no different from football where the top teams such as Man United and Chelsea constantly upgraded their squad in order to steal a march on the rest of the pack.

The UBP had brought in some exciting new candidates in Shawn Crockwell and Donte Hunt said Mr. Moniz but he admitted that any losing team will struggle to get top signings as the slump continued.

"In the longer terms there are tidal shifts.

"The PLP were in opposition for 30 years, at some point they were in single digits in terms of MPs, but they recovered from that. That is the nature of these things. So it makes it difficult to get players in the close season but there is a shift."

Asked if he himself was part of the group trying to reform the UBP Mr. Moniz said: "To me if you have a meeting with people there is a range of opinions even with that group.

"I think some people feel that a new party is at the end of the tunnel and some people feel change will achieve what they want. I have met with them but I am not one convinced we need a new party."

He believes polls wouldn't help determine whether a new party was wanted because no one yet knew what it involved.

"The point is if you have a vision - Barack Obama didn't poll, he went out there with his message and as he went along he polled. But he had a vision and showed it to people and said do you like my vision?

"They said we do like your vision. You have to present something to people and then get their reaction."

When talk of a new party had surfaced earlier this year Mr. Moniz said people outside the party had been curious while conservatives in the party had been angered as they felt undermined.

"They saw it as an attack on their loyalty to the party which in my view it wasn't.

"It was a reaction to our failure to advance at the polls. People are curious to see how we can move forward but again there isn't a magic answer. No one has come to me and said 'that's it, that's the way to go'."

"The reform group should go out there and see what's attractive. You put your feet in the water, you don't jump off the cliff without a parachute and see if someone catches you

"You start having meetings with people, private and public and see what the response is to that group."