?I?ll be back? ? that was the message outgoing Education Minister Terry Lister gave yesterday as he stepped down from Government after eight years in office.

The move, which surprised many, was needed to recharge his batteries said Mr. Lister who expressed delighted the Premier had said he could return to Cabinet when ready.

?I have served in a lot of ministries, so I?m always willing to go into whatever he wishes me to go into.?

But exhaustion had led the father-of-four, who is married to Bermuda Monetary Authority head Cheryl-Ann Lister, to give it a rest.

?I just reached a point where I really didn?t have anything else to give. I really needed to stop.

?It will be a good adjustment. I have worked extremely hard. I have had staff complain that their BlackBerrys go off at midnight.

?Well if I am working at midnight I have the right to send out BlackBerry messages. They don?t have to respond until next day.?

Mr. Lister was first appointed to the Senate in 1993 and just a year later was considering running against then PLP leader Freddie Wade.

He eventually didn?t run and lost a 1996 bid for the Deputy leader?s post to Alex Scott.

In 1998, at the beginning of the PLP?s first term in Government, he was appointed Minister of Development, Opportunity and Government Services.

Always serving as a full-time minister while other colleagues juggled Cabinet posts with other jobs, Mr. Lister then moved to Environment before landing his first big post ? as Minister of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety in October 2001.

He became Works and Engineering and Housing Minister after the July 2003 general election and just six months later was moved to Education.

Announcing the resignation yesterday, Mr. Scott credited Minister Lister with overseeing the CURE Amendment Act with its annual review of the racial demographics of the workforce and the implementation of the Consumer Protection Act.

Asked about his own best moments, Mr. Lister told he was proud of Bermudian display showcased at the Smithsonian.

?When people didn?t believe we had a culture worth recording, we had a culture people from all over the States could see.?

He also is proud of beefing up the Agricultural show and granting rights to long-stayers when in the Labour Ministry.

?People who had been here all these years on a one-year work permit gained the right to stay in Bermuda.?

Asked if he had regrets about not having a crack at the rest of the ministries, he said: ?No, I will do the rest when I come back.?

Always ambitious to lead his party, Mr. Lister was known to be disappointed when the leadership did not come his way in the turbulent aftermath of the 2003 election which saw Alex Scott profit when Jennifer Smith was forced out.

However, Mr. Lister denied he was considering running against Mr. Scott in October?s leadership contest. He said: ?I have no desire to become involved in anything of that nature.?

Education Permanent Secretary Rosemary Tyrrell said: ?I?m extremely sad to see Minister Lister go because I think that together we had a vision that encompassed young people and we were very much on that path to realising that success. We will have to continue.?

Lisa Trott, the president of Bermuda Union of Teachers, said of Mr. Lister?s tenure: ?They do the best they can with the information that they have. I?m not so sure all the time that they get the correct information.?