7News has exclusive coverage of the book launch this afternoon at the Leo Bradley Library. Jules Vasquez was there:

Two UDP leaders at one event - and for that matter, two UDP Chairpersons - only one person could bring these warring factions together in peaceful assembly:

Michael Peyrefitte, UDP Chairman
"You are the man, Finnegan. Finnegan da di man. I haven't seen certain leading UDP personalities in the same room in peace for a long time. You da di man!"

And that man Michael Finnegan soaked up the spotlight today with the launch of his biography: "The Journey from Long Barracks to Parliament." The author is Belize's most prolific biographer, Lawrence Vernon:

Lawrence Vernon, Author
"I was able to glean his personal thoughts on his growing up in a long barracks in Yabra to his ascension as an elected representative in Belize's parliament."

Micheal Finnegan, "From Long Barracks To Parliament"
"I am elated that a person like Mr. Lawrence Vernon, a former Liberian would over this years recognize my worth and my value to this country."

And assembled today to heap garlands upon his legend, Finnegan got both his nephew Shyne Barrow and his longtime friend Tracy Taegar Panton to sing his praises:

Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"The word that comes to mind as much as I have a handle on the English language is inimitable.

"I don't often use that word but when you think of Michael Kwame Finnegan that is what you think of. My memoir is coming out and I have to retell to my memoir in the shadow of a giant because I continue to stand in your shadow."

"The audacity that I have in life that offends many, it runs in the family. It is a genetic DNA where, while we may be born with disabilities and we may be born with challenges, Esme refused to accept anything less than excellence for us."

Tracy Taegar Panton, UDP Albert Rep
"He has become a ferocious force in the landscape of our society. He has always been a voice of reason. He has always been a voice of encouragement. He has always been a voice of support for those of us who seek to lead and who seek to serve this country."

The other side of the house was also represented with the Cabinet Secretary appearing for the Prime Minister who is traveling:

Stuart Leslie, Cabinet Secretary
"When we were in opposition for 13 years, your glory days. When we used to have parliamentary caucus and they would sit in the room and they'd be going over the strategies to go to the House, the Prime Minister would always ask, and how's Finnegan going to handle this?"

"That was the kind of respect that he, that he garnered from us. Who could ever forget those iconic moments in the House of Representatives when Finnegan would get up and he would have both sides rolling, or those moments when things would get tense and he would stand up and in a very calming voice, reach out across the aisle and start talking about interpersonal relationships that he enjoyed in the back of the room when they were not on the floor arguing and fighting against each other."

Yasser Musa, Artist
"I was a school teacher for 30 years and many of these young kids, 14, 15, would watch the evening news and they would only report, this is even during the, what the cabinet secretary calls the glory years of the PUP, but they weren't saying any, they weren't quoting anything from the state. They were quoting Michael Finnegan. They come to my class and say, Sir, you hear what Michael Finnegan say? and he said that about your father! I know, yes, but it's not about that. What is about is how he penetrated the cultural landscape of this nation, how he spoke the language of the people in the way he phrased his words."

You're a poet, you know that right? You're a remarkable poet."

And Finnegan also got two UDP chairpersons to praise him with intimate knowledge of his process:

Michael Peyrefitte, UDP Chairman
"Finnegan, when we had our own time to explain to the nation during COVID and Dean Barrow asked me to go on TV and explain during COVID. How will we do this and in what fashion will we do this. I said to myself I will do it like Finnegan and I tried to emulate you during that time and I tried to get people to understand me the way we understand you."

Sheena Pitts, UDP Chairlady
"This man would sit with me until sometimes three in the morning and I would prepare speaking notes for him. The method behind a man who had no formal education was the socratic method. What does this mean, Pitts? I how you use that in a sentence, Pitts, where I will lick it pon them this way then."

But even if they gave you a roadmap from Long Barracks to Parliament, you might not get there. So how did he do it?:

Jules Vasquez
"What are the conbination of circumstances that brought you to this table today?"

Micheal Finnegan, "From Long Barracks To Parliament"
"First thing, you have to have ambition. The environment you choose, those you admire that you believe that can take you to success or to land you on a ship that is sailing and not sinking. Integrity you learn along the way. Humility."

Jules Vasquez
"I hear that, all these characteristics. But your life could have gone a very different way. You grew up in the streets. Many of the people you have told me that you grew up with are just men who hang out and smoke weed all day."

Micheal Finnegan, "From Long Barracks To Parliament"
"I came across Evan Hyde. I came across Dean Lindo. I came across Manuel Esquivel. I came across Gene Adams. I came across your father. And they drove me away from that part of destruction to a part of success and righteousness."