Premier Michael Dunkley has clashed in Parliament with Opposition MP Zane DeSilva over the retention and salary of a lawyer-lobbyist who first appeared on the political landscape in the 1980s.

Mr DeSilva accused the Bermuda Government of “substantially” increasing the pay of Washington consultant Kenneth Levine to $400,000 per year, questioning whether this represented value for money.

Earlier, MPs heard that Mr Levine, who has acted in Bermuda’s interests for more than two decades, attended all 12 of the Capitol Hill meetings held during Mr Dunkley’s first official visit there.

After the morning session, the Premier provided figures to refute Mr DeSilva’s claim.

“What Mr DeSilva said is not correct — Mr Levine is on a $100,000 yearly retainer, and if he goes over his hours he receives an hourly rate,” Mr Dunkley told The Royal Gazette.

“If you note the figures, Mr Levine was in fact paid more under the Progressive Labour Party Government.”

Numbers provided by the Premier showed that the consultant received $377,979 in the fiscal year of 2009-10; $272,314 for 2010-11; $346,565 for 2011-12; $304,223 for 2012-13; $268,308 for 2013-2014; and $201,363 to date for 2014-15.

“If Mr DeSilva has a genuine concern about taxpayers’ money, he should not just fling out numbers willy-nilly,” Mr Dunkley said. “I don’t tolerate political prevarication.

“Levine also worked under the PLP and thus if they did not support his work they had every opportunity to take action. When I was in Washington, one thing I did was get up to date. Mr Levine worked very well with us.”