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THE public brawl between Prime Minister Bruce Golding and long-time Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporter, attorney-at-law Harold Brady took a dramatic twist yesterday when Golding, in response to a libel action filed against him by Brady, defiantly said he would not back down from statements he made in relation to the lawyer in the contentious Manatt, Phelps and Phillips (MPP) affair.

"The suit now filed by Harold Brady is frivolous and vexatious in law and shall be vigorously defended," Golding said in a short news release issued yesterday afternoon after word started circulating that Brady had filed the suit.

Golding had last month told journalists during a press conference organised by the Press Association of Jamaica at Jamaica House that Brady was no longer a member of the JLP and that he had been asked to resign from several state boards.

The prime minister made the comments in response to a question as to who, as he had stated before, disobeyed his orders in the Manatt affair.

Golding had maintained that Brady misled Manatt the United States law firm -- into believing that he was retaining its services on behalf of the Jamaican Government instead of the JLP, to lobby US authorities in the extradition case of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, who the Americans have accused of trafficking in drugs and arms.

But shortly after the press conference Brady, contacted by journalists, said he was still a member of the ruling party. In fact, he said he was a member of its Central Executive, the JLP's highest decision-making body outside of its annual conference. Brady also denied that he was asked to resign from any state board.

Brady's response plunged the party into crisis, which got worse when JLP general secretary Karl Samuda confirmed Brady's comments.

Talking to journalists outside the JLP's Belmont Road headquarters in Kingston following an emergency meeting on September 16, Samuda said although Brady had not paid his membership fees, this did not prevent the lawyer from remaining a party member.

Samuda said that the prime minister was unaware of this fact when he made his announcement.

In his statement yesterday, Golding said: "On September 15, 2010, attorneys representing Mr Harold Brady wrote to me making certain allegations regarding my actions and instructions to him on the engagement of the US law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips. Mr Brady's lawyers demanded a retraction of certain public statements I made on his involvement in the MPP matter. I will not withdraw from positions taken by me in relation to the engagement of MPP and Mr Brady's conduct in the matter as these positions are true and will be corroborated."

Yesterday, when the Sunday Observer contacted Brady, he confirmed that he was suing Golding.

"Yes, I am suing for libel," Brady told the Sunday Observer. "He said I am not a member of the party and I was fired from boards. The matter is before the court and I won't comment on that."

Brady also said he was being represented by attorneys Henlin, Gibson and Henlin.

Golding has consistently denied any arrangement between the US law firm and the Government, and has even challenged Manatt to produce any document showing that it was retained by his administration.

The firm was reportedly paid US$50,000.

The Manatt affair has dogged the Government since March when Opposition parliamentarian Dr Peter Phillips raised questions about the issue in the House.

Since then, Dr Ronald Robinson, who met with a Manatt official in Washington, DC, has resigned as junior foreign minister.