When the time came to say goodbye, Premier Jennifer Smith showed why she had been able to go from Shinbone Alley to Bermuda's highest elected office - and why she was forced out.

In her final Press conference yesterday, she showed grace and style after the galling humiliation of being rejected by her party.

She came across as sincere and honest, proud of her record and somewhat defiant.

A true politician, she pinpointed the final irony of her tenure. Just when the United Bermuda Party had failed to bring down the Smith government, her own colleagues did it for her.

And yet, while she did not deny that the personal attacks had hurt her, and that she felt misjudged, she also said she had stepped aside to end the divisions within her party; a selfless decision, when few would have been surprised if she had battled on.

There is little doubt that Ms Smith worked hard hours and made great sacrifices both for her party and for Bermuda. It has been her lifetime's work and it must be deeply painful to her to see it end like this.

There is little doubt that she wanted to do the right thing for Bermuda by her own lights and it must also be said that, for the most part, she steered a careful and moderate political course - sometimes to the annoyance of her more radical colleagues.

She will, of course, have a place in the pantheon of PLP leaders and leaders of Bermuda, for bringing the PLP to power and for introducing single seat constituencies.

And yet Ms Smith also displayed the characteristics that planted the seed of her own downfall. There is no doubt that she worked hard, but she could and should have delegated more.

Her combative style, so effective in the rough and tumble of debate in the House of Assembly, drove away people who were initially supportive of her.

And remarkably for a politician of so many years' experience, even yesterday she showed that she has never understood that successful leaders must intertwine personality and policies.

Not for nothing was Ronald Reagan known as the “great communicator”. And not for nothing is Franklin D. Roosevelt remembered for his fireside radio broadcasts.

Great leaders must be communicators and they must have a personal style that makes people feel a part of a community or national effort.

Yesterday, Ms Smith said: “For the sake of the party, for the sake of the Government, and for the sake of Bermuda, I sincerely hope that in the future, we will judge our leaders by the substance of their accomplishments, and not by the perception of their personal style.”

She is right of course. Ultimately, great leaders are judged by their deeds and not by their style. But great leaders make those whom they lead feel a part of the effort, not outsiders. And in the end, too many people, within and without the PLP, felt they were outsiders to Ms Smith.

Still, this may not be the end for Ms Smith. Yesterday, she quoted Longfellow, who said: “... noble souls, through dust and heat, rise from disaster and defeat the stronger”.

Having stabbed Ms Smith in the back, the rebel 11 should take care that she does not do the same to them one day.