Party spokeswoman and executive officer.

Mrs. Gibbons, who started work at the end of January, will work her last day on December 16.

She cited "purely personal reasons'' for leaving the post shortly after the UBP's annual general meeting on Thursday.

"When I took the job at the beginning of last year, my husband (the Hon.

Grant Gibbons) was a Senator, and he was not in Cabinet, and he was not an MP,'' Mrs. Gibbons told The Royal Gazette .

"A year later he is an MP, and he is in Cabinet, and the demands on him are extraordinary.'' With two young children, "it's just too much strain on our family to have both of us involved,'' she said.

Dr. Gibbons won the Paget East by-election last summer after the death of UBP veteran the Hon. John Stubbs. As Minister of Management and Technology, he is the main Cabinet Minister responsible for the Base handover, as well as the contentious telecommunications portfolio.

The couple has two children: Graham, 8; and Andrew, 7.

Mrs. Gibbons said she plans to work part-time as a marketing and communications consultant and expects the UBP will make use of her services.

"I'm looking at this as a way for me to get more control over my life, which is essential for the happy functioning of my family,'' she said.

Mrs. Gibbons has more than 20 years of marketing and communications experience with Gibbons Management Services Ltd., Squib Pharmaceuticals, and Cosmopolitan Magazine, among other companies.

She said she expects the UBP has people in mind to fill the executive officer post, but she did not know if a decision had been made.