Gazette today profiles Mr. Alex Scott, Progressive Labour Party MP for Warwick East.

Politician or backroom tactician? Mr. Alex Scott of the Progressive Labour Party is both, and admits the dual role has never been easy.

In defeating Environment Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons in Warwick East on October 5, Mr. Scott was not only a candidate, but campaign co-chairman, and director of the PLP's advertising and public relations efforts.

Mr. Scott, 53, comes to the House of Assembly after eight years in the Senate, where he has been Opposition Leader since 1989. There, he earned a reputation as a tough critic, particularly on labour and immigration issues -- the portfolios he will tackle as a Shadow Minister.

While he is best known for his public role, Mr. Scott also works behind the scenes.

He was the PLP's campaign chairman in 1989, and through his advertising agency Scott Crafts Ltd., he is responsible for much of the PLP's media campaign.

He said it was tough to wear both hats. At one time, he and Mr. David Allen were the party's media consultants. When Mr. Allen first wanted to run for office, "my advice to him was that it would be the beginning of the end of our ability to objectively advise the party''.

"It is extremely difficult to remove yourself from the natural inclination to think either as a member of the Senate or a member of the central committee, and just objectively call it,'' he said. "I attempt to offset that problem by relying on polls.'' While he said he would never again perform the three jobs he did in the latest campaign, Mr. Scott said he took great pride in the electoral numbers. The PLP improved to 18 seats from 15 and boosted its share of the popular vote to 46.4 percent from 37 percent. "I'l take those figures to the grave with me. It's just that last real prize that avoided us. I think the resources and the machine that we were up against just held us back from going over. The PLP's time has come.'' Stricken with rheumatic fever until age 12, Mr. Scott was unable to run like most of the other boys at Purvis Primary School.

"Only at the end of my elementary school period did I start to get into sports,'' Mr. Scott said. "There is many a funny tale of me trying to master the niceties of soccer and cricket.

"I carry today a scar on my lip where I was trying to be the wicket keeper and the ball found my lip before I found the ball.'' Despite the late start, when he entered Temple University in Philadephia, it was on a partial soccer scholarship, Mr. Scott said.

At Temple, where Mr. Scott earned a Fine Arts degree, he became friends with a Zambian student named Mr. Siteake Mwale who helped propel him toward a career in politics.

At the time, the British colony of Northern Rhodesia was becoming independent state of Zambia, and Mr. Mwale was a leader of Zambian students in the US.

"As he carried out his politics, I began to see first-hand the importance of political activity,'' Mr. Scott said. "I had little or no understanding or interest in politics in Bermuda. I just never thought in those terms.

"Siteake was able to tell me more about Bermuda than I think he could have if he was Bermudian. Basically, what he was doing was just speaking of the colonial model.'' Back then, in about 1962, Mr. Mwale predicted that when political change occurred in Bermuda, Mr. Scott would be part of it.

"Many, many years later, when I was in London sitting on the Pitt Commission, and I had occasion to seek some information from the Zambian Embassy, it all came back to me.'' By then, Mr. Mwale had become an adviser to the Zambian President and was to become Ambassador to the United States.

When Mr. Scott returned to Bermuda from Philadelphia in 1964, he went to work for Bermuda's future Premier at real estate company John W. Swan Ltd. "I worked for him for a week and decided it was not the place for me,'' he said.

"I had a tremendous independent streak.'' But the two remained on friendly terms, and when Mr. Scott started his own advertising agency a short time later, John W. Swan Ltd. became his first client.

In 1972, Mr. Scott met Mr. Frederick Wade, who became PLP leader in 1985, and his role in directing the party's public relations efforts began.

As a member of the PLP's central committee, later its chairman, then a Senator, and now an MP, "I've provided advice ever since.'' Mr. Scott , who first ran in Warwick West in 1985, met his wife Olga in 1966 and was married six years later. Mrs. Scott heads the Housing Allowance Programme at the Bermuda Housing Corporation. Daughter Robyn, 21, is studying at Acadia University, and son Lawrence, 14, is at Bermuda Institute.

Business wise, political life has been tough, said Mr. Scott, who had to close Scott Crafts for six weeks around election time. "We know our craft, but the business side of it I haven't paid enough attention to.'' But politics comes first, he said. "You don't work for 25 years in politics to come to this juncture and give it a halfway go.'' PLP'S TIME HAS COME -- PLP strategist Mr. Alex Scott on election night.