Dickinson Considering PLP Leader Candidacy
Progressive Labour Party MP Curtis Dickinson is said to be considering a bid to run for the PLP party’s leadership position, with the leadership position to become available once David Burt steps down as Party Leader later this year.
Mr Dickinson is the Member of Parliament for Constituency 21 Pembroke South East and previously served as the Minister of Finance. He also contested the party’s leadership in 2022, when delegates selected David Burt to continue as leader, with 97 delegates voting in support of Premier Burt, while 56 voted for Mr Dickinson. In the 2016 leadership election for the PLP, David Burt defeated Dennis Lister by 39 votes to 35 votes.
Mr Dickinson, who has not yet officially announced his candidacy, would be joining Jason Hayward who announced his candidacy for leader of the PLP in February of this year.
Technically speaking, other PLP MPs may still declare before the October election, however no additional candidates are currently rumored to be considering a run. Three-way leadership contests are somewhat uncommon in the party, the last time that occurred was back in 2010.
As the PLP currently forms the Government of Bermuda, the PLP Leader becomes the Premier, and the election of a leader of the Progressive Labour Party is an internal process defined in its constitution. The PLP Leadership election takes place every four years and the next one is scheduled to be held in October of this year.
I can’t, for the life of me, understand why an accomplished business professional like Curtis Dickinson aligns himself with a political party and establishment that rewards pure incompetence.
That bewilderment is further compounded by his decision to effectively be an invisible figure for years after having come up short when his last attempt to take leadership was struck down by the establishment to maintain Burt’s stranglehold on the country.
Something about that whole line of logic just doesn’t add up.