has said that her choice by acclamation as the next Premier is "the start of a new day for the United Bermuda Party''.

The fact is that it can turn out to be a new day but it is not yet a new day.

It cannot be a new day until the UBP parliamentarians prove their unanimous support for Pamela Gordon by working together. If they can put aside the animosities and the splits and the back-biting they may enjoy a new day but if they cannot they are in deep trouble.

Sometimes it takes a major shock to force coalitions of people, and the UBP is a wide coalition, to pull together. We suspect that the poll conducted last January which led to the resignation of Premier David Saul made it very clear that the UBP was getting close to an election after over three years of turmoil and nonsense and was likely to lose that election. The UBP is known to put a good deal of faith in polls. After over 30 years of power that poll was a major shock. However it may well have indicated a solution for the UBP. We think it showed that Pamela Gordon is a winner.

Ms Gordon has said of the UBP, "We recognise that Bermudians and the voters of Bermuda are tired of infighting and they want to know that there are people who will be representing their interests and not each individual's interests.'' That recognition is very important because the infighting and the individual interests have been in the forefront since the last election. They have cost Sir John Swan his good reputation and Dr. David Saul his Premiership. That too must have been a major shock for the UBP.

But the UBP is still intact. If it needs encouragement in embarking on its new day it does not need to look any further than the Progressive Labour Party.

The PLP was seriously set-back by an internal split which led to resignations and expulsions and then to the formation of the National Liberal Party. As a result of those splits, the PLP suffered serious setbacks at the polls. But the PLP embarked on its "new day'' and it did recover and returned to the point where it lost the last election by only the narrowest margin.

The UBP has managed to get through its traumas without expulsions even if it is losing two experienced Premiers. Now it needs to prove that it will help Pamela Gordon to lead toward a "new day''. There is no room in that revival for McDonald's or a renewal of the Independence debate.

Pam Gordon has "the right stuff'' to lead the UBP to the future if the UBP will give her a chance.