ALEX Scott gave a brusque and telling response when asked how his leadership style would differ from that of Jennifer Smith.

"You're sitting here," he replied to this reporter.

But he went on to defend the media-shy ways of his predecessor and paid tribute to Ms Smith's legacy.

"I'll probably be working with the Press more closely than the last Premier," said Premier Scott. "That's because she was prodigious, she worked extremely hard and she made a choice over whether it was going to be image or production.

"She thought, will I be judged on how many babies I kissed or how many column inches I got in the media, or will I be judged on my record?

"We won the last election solely on the Premier's record. She didn't gild the lily. She said, 'This is what we've done for the last four or five years. Read it, judge it, I promise you more effort of that order'. And the people said, 'Yes'."

He conceded that the United Bermuda Party had run a strong election campaign, but he felt that that made Ms Smith's victory all the more impressive.

"The Opposition threw millions of dollars of campaigning energy at the PLP. They ran a potent and powerful campaign," said Mr. Scott.

"That campaign was supposed to overrun the few thousand dollars that the PLP spent. We were not in the media anywhere near as much as the UBP.

"But we survived, based on the work ethic of the Premier and the Smith administration. The Smith administration was the focus of the Opposition's campaign and the Smith administration won.

"I don't say that as one's a good guy, one's a bad guy. In the eyes of the voter the Smith administration had performed to the extent that it should go forward.

"She (Ms Smith) may have chosen not to have been in the Press, not to have been the Premier of pomp and ceremony. But I think that her choice made for a seamless transition from the UBP to the PLP and it's now for me to take up the mantle and take it forward."

Having praised Ms Smith's style, Premier Scott went on to outline his very different approach.

"I think I will continually be giving the public an insight into where we're going and why we're going in that particular direction," he said. "I will invite criticism and I will respond to it. I will try to draw folks into the Government.

"People are not just there to be recipients of Government activity, but also participants in Government activity. I don't expect everyone to be a Parliamentarian, but I think they can be participants at community level in their parishes, their constituencies and their schools, assisting in the little functions and activities that make Bermuda run.

"I may have criticised the Governments of the past, but they weren't all bad. They did leave us with a good legacy, a foundation to build on."

Inspiring people to become involved in grass-roots Government activity and politics will be a major theme in Mr. Scott's plans.

And as a self-confessed reluctant leader, he made it clear he already had one eye on grooming a successor.

"I would hope I will be the type of Premier who will empower and inspire younger politicians to aspire to this office," he said.

"I want to put young people in place to learn the ins and outs of government, so they can take this responsibility. I don't shirk from this responsibility, but I'm not someone who will have to be asked to leave this office.

"I think there will be talent that will come along and recommend itself and I feel at some point in time, I'll be able to pass on the baton and it will be in good hands. That's most important.

"As leader, I have a responsibility to ensure that whoever takes this post after me will be an honourable man or woman.

"That's why I want to energise the body politic, make it so folks don't treat politics like a dirty word. I want it to be seen as an honourable pursuit.

"If I can go a little way down that path, I will succeed in leaving Bermuda a little better than I found it."