If there's one early winner in the upheaval in the governing Progressive Labour Party, it's Dame Jennifer Smith, who blocked the attempt by unhappy party dissidents to unseat Premier Dr. Ewart Brown last week.

No one should be under the illusion that Dame Jennifer made this move out of any affection for Dr. Brown, who was a prime mover in forcing Dame Jennifer's ouster in eerily similar circumstances six years ago.

So Dame Jennifer won't be shedding any tears in the event that Dr. Brown leaves office, especially if he is replaced by Finance Minister Paula Cox, who is a close ally.

However, Dame Jennifer insisted that the proper process be followed after Dr. Brown had apparently said that if 12 MPs were prepared to show they have no confidence in him he would go. Having been stabbed in the back herself, Dame Jennifer seems determined, for the sake of her party, to ensure that leadership fights follow a due process, which requires a special delegates' conference under the PLP constitution.

There is not space here to debate the merits of the PLP's leadership selection process, except to say that in normal circumstances it only allows for a leadership challenge every four years. It also determines the leadership of the PLP, and not necessarily who would be Premier, where the Bermuda constitutional requirement is only that the Premier have the support of a majority of MPs in the House of Assembly.

In 2002, Dame Jennifer saw off — just — a no-confidence motion within her caucus, and a year later, 11 PLP MPs made it clear they would not serve under her even if the conference supported her, thus forcing her out. Of course, the irony is huge that Dr. Brown was the prime mover in both of those events, but has now been thrown a lifeline by the very woman he plotted to overthrow. That speaks to Dame Jennifer's integrity; it is also worth noting that this is the first time she has commented on the events of 2003 since her ouster.

In any event, the PLP caucus "discussion" on Dr. Brown's leadership has now been postponed until Wednesday, which may give the Premier time to rally enough support to his side, but it will probably be hard going.

That's because he has alienated many of his former supporters, including former Education Minister Randy Horton, and because he has counted on two things to maintain his leadership. One is his ability to lead the party to election victory, but the polls suggest that he is not popular, especially compared to Ms Cox, and may even turn out to be an election liability.

The second is his reputation for "getting things done" in the portfolios he has retained for himself. But ongoing fights with bus drivers and taxi drivers have diminished that record in Transport.

And the tourism statistics speak for themselves. The recent sacking of Sales Focus, following on the controversy over the redundancies of Bermudians in the New York sales office, has thrown doubt over his management ability. The Supreme Court ruling that LeYoni Junos was unlawfully dismissed makes his Government look vindictive too.

Against that, the recent flurry of hotel development announcements has done little to reassure the public. Some, like the Grand Atlantic scheme have been met with scepticism. Developer Carl Bazarian has publicly denied the Premier's assertion that ground will be broken on the former Club Med in the autumn. Now it looks like Jumeirah is out at Morgan's Point, even if it is being replaced with another hotel chain.

Inured as the media is to the attempts to put a positive spin on literally everything that comes out of Government, the fact that these announcements have come now has to be looked at with some suspicion. The timing is a little too convenient. Against that background, Dame Jennifer's principled stand looks all the more remarkable. Time will tell if she has saved Dr. Brown. But she has undoubtedly improved her own reputation, at a time when other politicians are watching theirs sink to ever new depths.