We look back at the political tenure of the outgoing OBA helmsman, who says leaders must come second to those they lead
Jarion Richardson, the outgoing Opposition Leader, is relatively young in the political scene, having stepped into front-line politics in 2020.
Drawn in to politics…
The former police officer -turned- regulatory and compliance leader at Appleby, cited a conversation with OBA MP Scott Pearman as the spark that lit the flame…
“He was out canvasing. I sat him down and grilled him… What’s the plan for this? What’s the plan for that?”
…and then he turned and says, ‘you ever thought about helping out?’ And I went, ‘nope, get out of my house!’”
However, Mr Richardson said the conversation stirred something in him…
“I thought about it. If a country is in trouble, if a person’s in trouble, you don’t just turn your back and walk away.”
I just started attending one or two meetings, you know, joining one or two working groups. And next thing I knew… I was running in the general election for 2020.”
Mr Richardson represented the OBA in the senate from February 2020, before comfortably claiming Paget West in the following October’s general election, even as most the rest of the party were trounced in the mid-pandemic polls.
With only six Opposition MPs in the House, he loaded up on shadow portfolios for the Ministries of Labour, Home Affairs, and the Cabinet Office.
Less than two years after becoming an MP, he became the Deputy Opposition Leader.
Another year on, in the summer of 2023, then-OBA Leader Cole Simons stepped away from politics, and Jarion Richardson took the helm.
Leading the way…
Speaking to Bermuda Broadcasting in July 2023, only a couple of weeks before the leadership shake-up, Mr Richardson said a PLP narrative of the OBA being ‘dead’ is ‘dead wrong’.
“Why is it dead wrong? I’m here. I wasn’t here five years ago”, Mr Richardson said.
He also said that Premier David Burt is perhaps a savvy politician, but a “horrible civil leader”, citing the low turnout in the mid-pandemic general election of 2020.
“The voter franchise is a sacred thing”, he said, “and almost half of the people with that power decided they wouldn’t exercise it.”
“The PLP won a victory… yeah, of the ashes.”
“That’s nothing to be proud of.”
Over the following year, Mr Richardson led the party as they held on to two traditional OBA seats in Smith’s by-elections – although they failed to claim a historical PLP seat in Sandy’s.
They also reclaimed one seat they lost in 2020 when Vance Campbell crossed the floor from the PLP.
Through 2024, Jarion Richardson criticised the PLP Government’s lack of transparency around the 2023 cyber attack.
He called the resignation of former Attorney General Kathy-Lynn Simmons “a relief” because of her neglect of her constituency.
He condemned proposed salary increases for MPs – or any kind of MP salary increase, for that matter…
When asked why, he said, “because there’s 800 plus homeless people in Bermuda. Because people are getting treated in the hospitals in the corridors, and sleeping in the corridors. Because our housing crisis. Because we have Bermudians fleeing the island for economic reasons…”
“That’s not how leadership works. You don’t get a pay rise when everything’s going wrong for everybody else.”
When asked if he thinks there should be performance indicators for MPs, he said “there’s already a performance indicator – it’s called a general election… anyone who’s happy with the performance of the governing party, can vote in the governing party again. Anyone who’s not, votes them out.”
In February 2025, the PLP decisively won a third term in office in the face of the lowest voter turnout in modern history – 1,295 fewer voters than the 2020 snap election that took place in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
An unprecedented 109 election candidates, with 26 independents, saw the vote spread widely. The PLP just missed out on the majority of the popular vote, but was well ahead of every challenger.
One of the PLP’s first actions when returned to Government was a massive pay hike for MPs and Ministers, with the Premier, Deputy Premier, Speaker and Cabinet Ministers all seeing tens of thousands added to their pay packets.
The Aftermath…
Many political observers believe the surge of independent candidates hurt the OBA more than the PLP, but they managed to claw back four of the seats they lost in 2020.
Jarion Richardson was “positive and excited”, even in the face of the loss, saying the post-election OBA HQ in 2025 was “a very different room” compared to how it was in 2020.
“This has been a vindication of five years of incredible work… this is the end of the beginning for us.”
“The One Bermuda Alliance has survived the fury, the fire of being in a tiny minority in a super majority – whilst rebuilding.”
“I am so, so excited for the next five years.”
Mr Richardson said at the time that stepping down as leader was not on his radar, although he added that “it’s been a long five years…”
“…that whole reformation project has taught me the value of the folks who were willing to [rebuild the OBA]… I will never abandon them, even if I’m not the leader, even if I’m not a member of Parliament.”
