Rebel United Bermuda Party MP Trevor Moniz is still out in the cold after turning down a Shadow Ministry as the party forms its first-ever Opposition team.

And yesterday he blamed complacency and a failure to listen to the people for the party's crushing defeat at the polls.

Mr. Moniz -- who wanted Home Affairs and Public Safety -- rejected the offer of Telecommunications from Opposition leader Pamela Gordon.

And that makes him the only UBP member without a Shadow Ministry -- while Ms Gordon has taken over Telecommunications herself, as well as leading the Opposition side of the House.

But Mr. Moniz -- at odds with his own party since the Independence row of 1995 and the long-running McDonald's burger war erupted -- has no regrets.

And he insisted on Independence and Sir John Swan's bid to bring a McDonald's franchise to the Island, he and other UBP rebels spoke for "the vast majority of Bermudians.'' He said: "I would say I'm a bit disappointed not to be the Opposition spokesman for Home Affairs -- it's an important area.

"Of the Members of the Opposition, I was most experienced in that area and there are no former Ministers left.'' But he warned: "That does not stop me from speaking on that subject -- and I probably have more latitude not being the official Opposition spokesman.'' And Mr. Moniz added: "It's a strange position being labelled a rebel for espousing the position of the vast majority of the people.'' He added that he was watching the future leadership of the party with interest.

Mr. Moniz said: "I don't have a fixed opinion -- but the position was that a leader who suffered such a defeat would stand aside.'' He admitted that ex-Premier Pamela Gordon left it up to her party to decide if she would continue -- and she was overwhelmingly backed.

But he added: "It will be very interesting to see what happens in the future.'' And he said that the UBP would have to deal with defeat -- and examine the reasons for the crushing 26-14 landslide.

Mr. Moniz claimed: "My own view is that there is a great deal of denial in the party. They don't want to admit any failings by anybody.'' And he insisted: "We have to look at not only the record of the last five years, but our campaign team, our consultants, our leadership.

"We have to ask if it had to be this bad. It was a terrible defeat and have to look at it realistically and see what we can do to change that.'' And he singled out a series of reasons for the massacre at the polls -- including "18 wasted months'' under Premier David Saul.

Mr. Moniz said: "He failed because he failed to take a stand against McDonald's.'' And he added that Dr. Saul should also have been firmer with then-Finance Minister Grant Gibbons, who gave permission for the controversial franchise deal, and ex-UBP Premier Sir John Swan, whose firm Grape Bay Ltd. made the application.

He added that after Dr. Saul's rein that "Pamela Gordon was placed there, placed is the word, with too little time.'' And Mr. Moniz said: "There was no great effort to bring the party back together.'' He added that the appointment of Maxwell Burgess, also involved in Grape Bay, to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Safety meant "most people read that in a negative fashion.'' And he slated the UBP campaign for placing too much emphasis on the economy and not enough on social issues.

Mr. Moniz said: "There was too much emphasis on high-flying mumbo-jumbo -- that doesn't reach the man in the street.

"I think we went way off beam, I think we lost our way. We had to go forward with programmes which touched the average man and woman in the street, like child care.'' And Mr. Moniz added the PLP had been more successful in getting across their message to "Mr. and Mrs. Bermuda.'' He said: "We took that elitist standpoint `we're big business and we know better' -- we just got out of touch.'' And he added the UBP's long climb back to power would have to begin at the grassroots.

Mr. Moniz said: "It's the same thing they should have done all along -- listen to the people who know, at grass roots level, get out on the streets, rather than listen to people who sit in boardrooms pulling strings.'' He admitted that there was a worldwide electoral trend towards a shade left of centre.

But Mr. Moniz said: "We lost every single marginal -- in fact, we lost some which weren't marginal. And I'm not one to say it was fate, that it had to be like that.

"But decisions were made and quite frankly, these decisions were made by people who shouldn't have been making them.'' But Mr. Moniz dismissed suggestions that the `rebel five' who took on Government over Independence and McDonald's themselves contributed to the party's drubbing at the polls.

He said: "I wouldn't say that if we hadn't had public support. When you speak for the vast majority of people, that can't be wrong.'' But -- despite his beefs with the UBP -- Mr. Moniz said he stood "four square'' behind the party and Ms Gordon.

And he wrote his own epitaph for the UBP's 1998: "Don't get me wrong -- we did a lot of right things. But we didn't do them early enough.''