The UBP was unable to obtain the support of all their MPs for their power grab. After pledging to vote against it, UBP MP Darius Tucker rejected his party's line by going absent from the vote. UBP MP and Shadow Justice Minister Mark Pettingill also abstained while former UBP Leader and sitting independent MP Wayne Furbert voted against the resolution.

Premier Ewart Brown received the support of all PLP MPs. Prior to the vote, the Premier issued a clarification on last week's security statement. Premier Brown:

Mr. Speaker, on Friday last I advised this Honourable House during the debate on the Motion to Adjourn that the Commissioner of Police considered that there was absolutely no security risk posed by the four Uighur refugees now in Bermuda. My statement on that occasion was based upon advice I had received following a briefing the Commissioner had provided to my colleague the Minister of Labour, Home Affairs and Housing.

Mr. Speaker, I repeated this contention at a subsequent media event and it was relied upon by the media who reported it as part of their continuing coverage of these events.

Mr. Speaker, on Sunday evening I appeared as a guest on a radio talk show and again sought to repeat the information I had received with respect to the threat assessment of these four men. In the course of the radio appearance I received an email from the Commissioner of Police which clearly indicated that the information I was sharing on this point was inaccurate.

Mr. Speaker, in the course of the same radio programme at the first opportunity I advised the listening public that the information I had shared was inaccurate and that the Commissioner of Police had just advised me accordingly.

While I was very surprised to note concurrent media releases on this matter from the Bermuda Police Service and Government House two days later on Tuesday afternoon, I wholeheartedly endorse the subsequent statement from the Minister of Labour, Home Affairs and Housing in which he stated: “The Government of Bermuda takes no issue with the two statements issued today by His Excellency the Governor and the Commissioner of Police. The omission of the word preliminary when talking about the police threat assessment in public utterances is regretted and is in no way intended to minimize the work to be done by the Bermuda Police Service in carrying out its own due diligence.”

Mr. Speaker, I wish to make it abundantly clear that at no stage did I knowingly mislead this Honourable House or the people of Bermuda. Immediately upon becoming aware of the inaccuracy of the information I had shared I corrected it publicly. The unfortunate slew of allegations to the contrary will hopefully now cease. The statements were made in this Honourable House and as such it is right that they be corrected in this very same forum.

Mr. Speaker, over many years I have heard you invoke a maxim which thankfully rarely has applied to me, but in the present situation I borrow it from you: To err is human, to forgive divine.

Thank you Mr. Speaker.

We look forward to continuing to serve the people of Bermuda in Government. Our work on behalf of the people continues in earnest on Monday.