The fledgeling One Bermuda Alliance toppled the Progressive Labour Party by a whisker in the General Election upset of December 2012.

However Michael Dunkley, who served as premier from 2014 until the OBA’s defeat in 2017, said that he never let the party’s prospects for a second term in government to sway his decisions.

Mr Dunkley retires at the end of this month, closing 27 years in politics.

He pondered the party’s single term, dogged by protests over the airport redevelopment, accusations of elitism in courting the 2017 America’s Cup, and with the unsuccessful 2016 referendum on same-sex marriage angering supporters of marriage equality.

Mr Dunkley also insisted that he came into the new government with no ambitions for the top job after Craig Cannonier, the former premier, stepped down over the Jetgate controversy, which erupted after a trip to Washington.

“I thought in 2012 that we had a reasonable chance to win. But I knew it would be close.

“Once it was as close as it was, I always knew it would be difficult to win the next election.

“But I never made decisions or governed to win an election. I made decisions to make sure Bermuda was in a better position going forward.”

Mr Dunkley built a reputation for rigorous canvassing of his constituency.

He said that in every election a candidate would be “pretty accurate, or you should be” in terms of their own constituency.

“But nationally, it’s going to be different.”

He added: “We turned Bermuda around. We put Bermuda in a much better position in 2012. It’s unfortunate that we lost the election, but we made great strides during that period.”

Mr Dunkley said that taking over after Mr Cannonier had to step down marked an ugly time in Bermuda’s politics.

“I didn’t like that period. I don’t think anybody did.

“The unfortunate thing is the PLP and some others did a great job of taking a party matter and making it a national matter. It was untenable for Craig to continue.”

Mr Dunkley said he “never had aspirations to be premier or leader of the country” but was “not afraid to stand up” when his party colleagues backed him for the role.

He revealed that he had to stop the car on the way to Government House for his swearing-in, realising that in the chaos he had not informed Pamela, his wife, who said she backed him if he was ready.

“That’s how quickly things move sometimes in politics.”

Same-sex marriage was among several issues that divided Bermudians during the OBA’s tenure.

The party was criticised by some for putting it to a referendum in 2016, when it was rejected.

Asked why the OBA had not settled the matter by bringing legislation to the House, Mr Dunkley said: “While I will have some regrets, I made decisions that I thought were right at the time.

“With same-sex marriage, it’s always been a very contentious issue. Both political parties at the time would have problems getting support for it. That was the order of the day.

“I think it was doubtful, if we had brought an acceptable Bill to the House, that we would get enough votes for it.”

Mr Dunkley said the issue was in a better position now after years of court cases — but added that he knew he lost votes in 2017 over it.

The OBA has taken a hammering from its opponents over the administration’s $165 million guarantee on the Morgan’s Point development, which had to be paid out in 2019.

Bob Richards, the former Minister of Finance, stuck to his guns over the unpopular move, saying the Government had to kick-start the economy.

Mr Dunkley defended Mr Richards as a shrewd minister, saying the backers of the development had been “solid people”.

“Things just didn’t work out the way we thought they would, and we have to take the hit for that. We made a lot of other decisions with guarantees that worked out with time.

“I was very disappointed it didn’t work out. It looked to me like there was some real potential.”

Mr Dunkley rejected the PLP’s attacks on the airport redevelopment, saying the party’s tactic had been to “shout as loud and long as they can” to sway the public.

He called the party “hypocritical” in light of the hospital acute care wing, also done by public-private partnership, with documents remaining unseen.

He pointed out that payments during the pandemic when the airport was closed would have been “the same or probably more” for a government-owned facility.

A promotional document issued in Dubai last January highlighted Bermuda’s “world-class” airport facilities.

“You organise protests against the airport and then brag about how good it is? That takes some big cojones.”

Protests came to a head on December 2, 2016, with demonstrators blocking Parliament to stop key airport legislation ending up being pepper-sprayed by police.

The Royal Gazette asked why the OBA had not avoided the stand-off by showing up early to the House, ahead of protesters.

Mr Dunkley said: “The simple answer is, we were informed by police that we would have no problem gaining access.”

He also said that the OBA had not pinned its hopes for re-election on the 2017 America’s Cup, but merely took a promising opportunity — one that left Bermuda when New Zealand defeated the American team.

“Even if the PLP was government after that, they probably would have negotiated to bring it back.”

He added that the regatta was seen in “hundreds of countries around the world, and pumped $350 million into our economy”.