rule of law. Beddoes condemned the coup of 5 December, and spoke out strongly against what he saw as violations of constitutional and human rights. Beddoes welcomed the decision of the Military to restore Ratu Josefa Iloilo to the Presidency on 4 January 2007, but condemned the appointment of Bainimarama as interim Prime Minister on 5 January and criticised the President's endorsement of the coup, the Fiji Times reported. He expressed disappointment when his deputy, Bernadette Rounds-Ganilau, accepted office in Bainimarama's interim government, and asked her to resign from the UPP. He was particularly disappointed, he said, that Ganilau's decision came less than twenty-four hours after he had been visited by soldiers conveying a message from Land Force Commander Pita Driti threatening him to stop speaking against the Military. On 10 January, he accused the Fiji Labour Party, some of whose leading figures, were included in the interim government, of having been privy to the coup plot. Social views On 27 August 2005, Beddoes spoke out against calls by some for the closure of loopholes in the Penal Code which had allowed the release of two men, one a Fijian citizen and the other a foreigner, who had been sentenced to a prison term on 5 April for homosexual acts. This sentence was overturned on 26 August by Justice Gerald Winter, who said that the Penal Code was not applicable to what adults did in private. The same day, Beddoes condemned Senator Mitieli Bulanauca for speaking against homosexuality and attacking Justice Winter in the Senate. "Senator Bulanauca is among a very small percentage of misfits and clowns who live off the lies they try to spin to try and intimidate others, while sheltering behind parliamentary privilege," Beddoes said. "These expressions of hate come from a man who claims he is a Christian and quotes endlessly from the Bible." Retirement On 20 January 2007, Beddoes announced that he would retire from the presidency of the UPP at the Annual General Meeting of his party, on 31 March. After the winding up of the UPP in January 2013, Beddoes announced that he would join the new Social Democratic Liberal Party. References External links Official website of Mick Beddoes Year of birth missing (living people) Living people United Peoples Party (Fiji) politicians Fijian businesspeople Social Democratic Liberal Party politicians Fijian people of British descent Fijian people of I-Taukei Fijian descent Alliance Party (Fiji)