We probed the elder Barrow for more on the party he led for 22 years - longer than anyone else - other than George Price - has led a mass party in Belize.
And that long tenure without an orderly succession plan is perhaps why the elder Barrow seems so aggrieved at the ruinous state his party is now in - divided against itself on all sides.
We asked him about whether he sees any hope for reconciliation between his son, Leader Shyne Barrow and the various factions at war with the leader:
Reporter
"Do you have any type of hope that the UDP would be able to rebuild itself, not only into a strong opposition, but to a strong opponent when it comes to the next general elections against the PUP?"
Dean Barrow, Former Prime Minister
"Well, I have hope, but hope is different from expectation. I don't have any such expectation for the immediate future and that's a tragedy. I have said that I have a vested interest in seeing the opposition rebuild and become effective. I have a vested interest as a citizen of this country. Our democracy depends on a strong opposition and at the moment the opposition's effectiveness is crippled, because of the in-fighting, because of the disunity. I sincerely wish that they would get their act together. I, ofcourse have a personal interest, my son is leader of the opposition - I want to see him succeed, as I said for the sake of the country, for the sake of the party, but for his own sake and so I am hoping that some way forward can be found that would see the warring factions within the UDP agree some kind of a cease fire."
"I hope that the current leader and those that are so openly in revolt against him can on both sides sacrifice some of their pride, sacrifice some of the grievances, the personalities, the protagonist, the principals need to recognize that in terms of the degree to which there is this in-fighting as long as that state of affairs continues, the UDP will not be able properly to discharge its constitutional role as the opposition in this country."
Reporter
"And eventhough Mr. Shyne is your son, some might say he da just come. This is his first actual term in government. Do you think he has what it takes to unify the UDP?"
Dean Barrow, Former Prime Minister
"I think so. It's not happening right at the moment, but I think so and that's why I say it will take a matter of some discipline and some sacrifice on all those that are involved to make it happen. Clearly, he is as talented as he is. There are shortcomings. On the other hand, those that fall into that latter category have to make every effort to get over their hurt at not having been successful. He won the convention by only 3 votes, but he won. He is the constitutional leader of the opposition and the constitutional leader of the United Democratic Party. Sure there are hurt feelings, those that lost and their supporters are extremely upset and that's natural, but my goodness, you expect that over a period of time they will be able to assuage those feelings of hurt a little bit - tamp down on them a little bit, instead it appears to me that the divisions are as deep-seated today as they were immediately after the convention the day following or the week following and this is what is wrong."
Today, there was some sign of fence mending between Shyne Barrow and former leader Patrick Faber. We have seen a letter sent to the clerk of the national assembly asking him to move Faber up on the opposition bench, putting him in the third seat, right after first deputy Hugo Patt. Previously, Faber had been exiled to the very last seat on the bench after Denyse "Sister B" Barrow - in a deliberate humiliation.
