“Poison Chalice” are truly the words which spring to mind when looking at Terry Lister's new portfolios.

Removed from the Home Affairs Ministry which he enjoyed, he has been given Works and Engineering with the problems of the delayed Berkeley school and Housing with its problems of corruption at Bermuda Housing Corporation.

But Mr. Lister this week denied he had drawn the short straw.

He said: “I have only been given consistently difficult jobs to do which says something about my ability to do them.

“I would have been disappointed if I had been given some less challenging role.

“BHC requires a very careful examination of where we really are. What the state of the systems and procedures. That was my greatest concern when this incident came to light last year.”

He said establishing that would stop future abuses. The PLP manifesto was vague on housing.

Mr. Lister said renovating derelict houses was not always efficient and sometimes it was quicker and cheaper to remove them and start again after acquiring the land.

He said multiple floor houses were possible on sloped land but he was against the idea of three storey houses elsewhere.

As the former Labour Minister Mr. Lister said the Housing Minister always had a difficult task as more expatriates came in as the economy grew.

He said in a normal year there were 200 new houses being built but a company could easily set up shop with 50 workers.

Although Government reports work permit numbers as being steady Mr. Lister said some of those became permanent residents or spouses of locals and were replaced by new work permit holders leading to a rising population. On the Berkeley project, Mr. Lister said quality rather than meeting deadlines was the key thing.

He said: “If we can't meet the timetable and we are going to be a month late or two months late then I can live with that. My feeling was we need a quality product.

“Because once you miss September 2003 - which has been missed - then there is really no point in going into the school except in the new school year.”

But he said he didn't want to push the date back to September 2004 yet.

He said there was space for more houses at Malabar (on Ireland Island) and on Boaz Island in the west end.

Projects similar to the Boaz Island development were likely said Mr. Lister.

And he said work would start on the Southside police station in October.

It has been a long time coming for people's favourite Dale Butler but yesterday he was finally given a position in the Progressive Labour Party cabinet.

The 57-year-old former head teacher, whose independent and outspoken attitude made him known as a somewhat maverick MP, should be very well suited to his new role as head of Community Affairs, Youth and Sport.

He is a man at the heart of the community, he has long taken a healthy and active interest in young people, and a regular runner and squash player, he also has a very keen eye on the sports scene.

When the PLP was first elected into Government in November 1998, it was taken for granted that the father of two would automatically take up the education mantle, but it was not to be. Premier Jennifer Smith kept that role for herself, instead.

However, although Mr. Butler may be destined for the hot seat in the Education Ministry down the line, Community Affairs, Youth and Sport is not a bad place for him to cut his Cabinet teeth.

Mr. Butler was a newcomer to Parliament when he first won his seat in 1998, but he had stood as a PLP candidate prior to that and lost. During his tenure in the House so far, he has become known as a clear, direct speaker who talks from the heart and experience, even if it means going against his party's policy.

Only once has he turned the public off when he made disparaging comments during a Parliamentary debate about European women, claiming they were of poor hygiene and attractiveness when they first arrived in Bermuda to work.

As a key employee at the Little Venice Group, which employs a number of European staff, a red-faced Mr. Butler was forced to apologise and think about the consequences of his comments.

Despite her previously roving role as Minister without Portfolio, Neletha Butterfield's new post as Minister of the Environment comes new to her.

She said: “The Environment was one of those ministries which I never got the opportunity to act for. I am looking forward to going into there to see what needs to be done and follow on.”

“I am very excited and looking forward to see what it entails,” Ms Butterfield, who owns a computer and adult education school. “As Minister without portfolio I was all over the place. This is going to be interesting to be in one ministry.”

Ms Butterfield, 50, said the key issues were sustainable development and also conservation.

Soft spoken newcomer Patrice Parris could turn out to be a Progressive Labour Party bigwig after being accepted into the new Cabinet in the heavyweight role of Health Minister.

Less than a week after becoming a member of the House of Assembly following her victory over the United Bermuda Party's Allan Marshall in the Smith's North constituency, she will become responsible for a massive $132 million annual budget.

Former Health Minister Nelson Bascome has been given no role in Cabinet in the new Scott Government.

As a former junior minister for finance, Ms Parris has been a senator since the 1998 General Election, and was also responsible in the Senate for Community Affairs, Youth and Sport.

However, a quiet and measured speaker, she was not known as an argumentative debater and often only spoke during Senate sessions when she was reading reports put together by her senior Minister in Parliament, Eugene Cox.

Ms Parris is executive director of Big Brothers and Sisters and was voted Big Sister of the Year in 1998.

She was educated at Berkeley Institute and Howard University in Washington, where she earned a degree in Business Administration.

She then worked at the Bank of Bermuda for 11 years, becoming Trust Manager and Assistant Vice-President. And Ms Parris also worked in a managerial role at the Swiss-owned company Lombard Odier International Trust Company (Bermuda) Ltd.

Ms Parris is also a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and the Institute of Directors, and was a deputy chairman of the Bermuda College, and is still a member of the college board.

Randy Horton's promotion was the shock among Mr. Scott's new team as other cabinet defectors from the Smith camp had been demoted or stayed where they were.

But the 58-year-old legendary educator, professional footballer and local cricket star said: “I wasn't surprised, I felt I would get a senior ministry. What I have done in the past Premier Scott has looked at, and felt I could do this job.”

He said he would carry on in his job as Director of Training at the Hamilton Princess while tackling the weighty portfolio.

His business experience will be a plus said Mr. Horton when he adjudicates labour issues which were a big issue in the previous term.

He said: “I will bring a sensitive approach to the table. I have had to deal with unions before and I have been part of a union before.

“I have been a part of business so I think I bring a balance which will help to resolve certain issues.”

Lawyer Michael Scott admits his new role as Legislative Affairs Minister could be grooming him for the role of Attorney General - but he is not complacent that he will get the top job.

Despite a reduced cabinet Premier Alex Scott promoted Mr. Scott while giving the AG's job to Paula Cox, who also has Education.

Asked about this doubling up Mr. Scott - who is due to be re-appointed to the Senate after failing to win Southampton West Central last week - said he would help out Ms Cox who also has a busy time in Education.

Mr. Scott, who was junior Legislative Affairs Minister in the Senate before the election, said: “I certainly am being groomed for an Attorney General's job by being virtue of being the junior minister and now its minister in de facto.

But it's a question of a political decision whether I am. I certainly haven't been advised that I am being groomed but it would be a good fit.”

He said it was the AG's job to advise the Government on legal matters while the Legislative Affairs Minister drafted laws and moved them to the floor of the House.

Mr. Scott will use his experience after five years in the Senate and knowledge of the law as a barrister to help him in his new role in Legislative Affairs. The 53-year-old became a Senator in 1998 and has named the Alternatives to Incarceration scheme as a particular interest of his and said he would like to see that flourish and continue and said he wanted to see youngsters turn away from drugs.

Reporter Ashfield DeVent, 46, believes his new post as the roving minister without Portfolio will be a boon to be nosy.

He joked: “It gives me the opportunity to learn about every ministry and as a reporter I get to ask a lot of questions and carry around my note book and get to know everything I need to know.”

Mr. DeVent, a Smith loyalist, was elected to the House in the November 2002 by-election to replace the late David Allen and praised the composition of the new cabinet.

On his own promotion he said: “I always say what a difference a day makes - from the first day I decided to throw my hat into the ring for the selection process before the by-election after the untimely death of David Allen, and here I am. In politics they say a week is a long time.”