Paul de la Chevotiere in the 1970s, Grace Bell in the 1990s and now Wayne Furbert in 2010. Tim Smith speaks to the latest MP to make the rare move across the floor of the House of Assembly

He's finally gone ahead and joined the rival team he couldn't beat, but the Progressive Labour Party's newest recruit insists there's been no epiphany — he's still the same old Wayne Furbert.

For just over a year from January 2006, he was the man tasked with bringing the PLP juggernaut to a halt — head of a United Bermuda Party still believing it was just one successful election campaign away from a glorious return to Government.

In truth, the UBP was merely a few months away from General Election heartbreak and subsequent implosion, but that demise didn't happen before Mr. Furbert had at least thrown some punches the PLP's way.

"My advice to the Premier is simple," he said in August 2006. "People say that you do not listen and that your party is arrogant."

"The PLP record in office is more about failure than success," he said a couple of months later. "We see it as a broken Government."

And while the Hamilton West MP was not known for the kind of blistering insults regularly flung the UBP's way by Premier Ewart Brown, his switch of allegiance has already caused displeasure among some of his new colleagues.

One has questioned whether it took an epiphany for Mr. Furbert to move from the conservative UBP to a party with traditional labour roots. Asked whether his ideology has changed, Mr. Furbert said: "My ideology is who I am."

Insistent that he can be the same Wayne Furbert in the PLP that he was for so long in the UBP, he continued: "I'm a team player. I will support the party on issues going forward. There are some issues I will not support. Gaming is one of them. I am who I am."

And while his tendency to vote on Government lines has not gone unnoticed since he quit the UBP in December 2008, his stance on gaming counters suggestions that Mr. Furbert was only invited on board because Dr. Brown is desperate for more support on key issues from the PLP ranks.

One rumour suggests the Premier even enticed Mr. Furbert by offering him his Transport portfolio. But Mr. Furbert said: "Dr. Brown has never even talked to me about it. Never has he approached me to join the PLP. I don't want people to run around talking about he promised me some ministry position. That's not true."

A former Culture, Health, Housing and Transport Minister under the UBP Government, he does not rule out taking a Cabinet role at some point, but said: "I don't think it would be wise for me at this time to take any Cabinet position if it was offered to me, until the leadership has changed.

"I don't think it's fair. That would speak to the false rumours that that's the reason why I came. I don't want to give anyone the opportunity to accuse me of coming over for such a thing. That's not fair on me, it's not fair on the PLP, nor the people of Hamilton Parish.

"I'm here to serve. I have many things I have to offer to the party, both politically and business wise. I'm willing to help them."

He says he stands by all the comments he made about the PLP in the past. That's politics, appears to be his message; and since becoming Independent, his real foes have seemed to be his former UBP comrades.

"I get along with Dr. Brown as I get along with anybody," he said. "You see me in conflict with Louise Jackson now. Now I'm getting on to Kim (Swan), Louise, Grant (Gibbons)."

Of criticism the PLP threw his way in the past, he said: "I get a lot of stick now from people in the UBP too. Different day, different person."

Only two people have crossed the floor before in Bermuda: Paul de la Chevotiere from the PLP to the UBP in the late 1970s and Grace Bell the other way two decades later. Mrs. Bell was not chosen as a candidate at the historic 1998 General Election, with many observers warning Mr. Furbert could now be in for a similarly rough ride.

Mr. Furbert believes he can make it work, saying: "I'm excited, looking to face uncharted waters. I've never been involved in the PLP before, but my ship is strong. Whatever waves come my way, my ship will get through.

"I just believe that, going forward, I had no other choice but to walk alongside the PLP to help make Bermuda a better place."

Another option would have been to join the Bermuda Democratic Alliance, but Mr. Furbert said he would have declined if asked.

"I care very much for those guys. I worked with them over the past. It's going to be tough for them to win an election at all," he said.

Many have called for him to resign his seat and cause a by-election, with one PLP backbencher describing his actions as a slap in the face to the people who voted him in under the UBP banner.

"I looked at a by-election in the early part of last year, I really did," said Mr. Furbert. "But when I looked at the constitution of the PLP it became a little complicated on how I was going to do it.

"I had to have resigned my seat from Parliament, probably have to contest an election in the PLP and even then I had to be selected by a selection committee. I just believe it could have been a total mess and too confusing to the public."

Asked whether Charles Clarke — the likely PLP candidate for Constituency Six before Mr. Furbert's switch — would think that's fair, Mr. Furbert replied: "I don't know if he would have thought it would be."

Mr. Clarke will have a battle on his hands if he wants to hold onto his branch's support, because Mr. Furbert says he's taking many of his old UBP supporters with him.

Predicting many dozens of voters will switch from UBP to PLP as a result of his move, he said: "The people in Hamilton Parish will make a decision. But I think I gain enough respect in that parish. I pray they will return me back in.

"I have had some brief discussions with some of the branch executives and some of the members. It's early days, but anyone can come down there; it's democracy.

"They come down and vie for the seat; the members will decide who represents them. Fortunately or unfortunately, I'm in a position (to know) a lot of people; I bring people with me.

"All I can say is by my fruits I will be known. I'm not expecting everybody to love me, I'm expecting them to at least understand me. That's why I explain to them who I am.

"It's time to work. I have got to go out there and work hard. There will be people upset with me. I have got to win back their confidence."