politics for good, a former Premier said yesterday.

Dr. Saul announced that he would leave the office of Premier next Thursday and resign from his Devonshire South seat at the end of the month. While the news came as a shock to many, for his political mentor Sir David Gibbons, Dr.

Saul's announcement was consistent with the man he has known for more than 25 years.

While many label him arrogant and haughty, in Sir David's eyes Dr. Saul is an eternal pragmatist who sets short term goals, works assiduously to achieve them and then moves on.

Dr. Saul's stint as Premier, Sir David surmised, was a case in point.

"I don't listen to the radio but I had heard that he made an announcement,'' Sir David said. "It is only the sensible thing to do. I did it myself in 1984. He has been Premier and Finance Minister. He would just be a lame duck were he to find himself as a backbencher. There are more constructive things that he could be doing.

"Once he decided to resign as Premier, stepping down from his seat was the only sensible thing to do.'' Sir David said the timing of the announcement was inconsequential because Dr.

Saul was thrust into the position without first having canvassed for it.

Having done that, he was immediately faced with a tumult that was not of his own making.

In August, 1995 when he assumed the leadership, Sir John Swan's referendum on Independence had failed and the seeds of the now infamous "People's Five'' were taking root.

With the franchise issue following soon after, the divisions were widened and led ultimately to a Motion of Censure in the House of Assembly last year.

"He was faced with a divided party,'' Sir David continued, "and he has worked hard to mend the rift. Let's hope that every one of them gets together and finds an individual they can all support unanimously and go on from there.

"But he has tried very hard through it all over the last year and a half.

"He was finally able to get some agreement with the group of five. I think he has done a very good job in mending the rift that developed after Sir John Swan's referendum which was soundly defeated and ended up as an embarrassment for Sir John.

"I think David Saul is the kind of person who always has an agenda. He sets targets over a few years to get a job done and then he goes on to something else.'' Change has been a constant in Dr. Saul's working life.

Born in 1939 in Warwick, he attended Mount St. Agnes Academy and Saltus Grammar School before training as a teacher at the University of Nottingham and Loughborough College in England where he was also a star distance runner.

He began as a school teacher and vice principal with the Department of Education from 1962-1967 before going on to work as a graduate research assistant at the University of Toronto from 1968 to 1971.

After earning a doctorate in educational psychology, he was a visiting professor at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Saul's tenure assessed On his return to Bermuda, he was appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education from 1972-76. He left and went on to become Financial Secretary from 1976-1982.

When Sir David Gibbons stepped down as Premier in 1982, Dr. Saul moved with him into the family business as the chief administrative officer of Edmund Gibbons Company where he stayed until he moved on to Fidelity, one of the world's largest mutual fund companies.

In his fifth year at Fidelity, he opted to pursue a career in politics and won the UBP safe seat of Devonshire South in a primary and followed up on this during the election the following February.

He was immediately pressed into service as Finance Minister after Dr. Clarence James lost his seat and he prepared seven Budgets from 1989 to 1995.

But Dr. Saul's keen administrative abilities, honed throughout his time as a teacher, civil servant, and politician did not prepare him for the tasks he faced as the leader of the country, political science lecturer Walton Brown mused.

"Dr. Saul was always a competent administrator as a Permanent Secretary for Education and as a Financial Secretary.

"He was a very effective administrator. But an administrator and a leader are two different things. Where he succeeded as an administrator he fell down as a leader.'' Mr. Brown said the United Bermuda Party was, albeit quietly, going through a crisis which has made it extremely vulnerable.

Now the party were trying to find a winning electoral formula in the wake of Sir John Swan's 13-year tenure as leader.

"There was no obvious person ready to succeed Sir John Swan,'' Mr. Brown said. "And they ended up placing two people at the helm who chose not to demonstrate any leadership on the most important issue at the time which was Independence.

"It was odd for the party to have chosen two people (Dr. Saul and Deputy Premier Jerome Dill) who did not stand for anything (neither has publicly declared their stance on Independence) as leaders.'' Moreover, Mr. Brown said the Tim Smith affair -- when the then-Environment Minister was caught on the microphone discussing issues relating to a planning application from backbencher Trevor Moniz -- showed Dr. Saul's weakness.

Many called on Dr. Saul to ask for Mr. Smith to resign. Eventually he was switched to the Ministry of Youth and Sport.

That, said Mr. Brown, showed a lack of leadership on Dr. Saul's part.

Labour Minister Quinton Edness said: "I have been an avid supporter of his.

He has caused the entire Country to settle down from the time that he took over there was a lot of political turmoil particularly on our side but he dealt with that.'' Opposition Leader Jennifer Smith said he announcement came as a surprise because it did not come during the height of the activities of the People's Five.

Ms Smith said Dr. Saul had said publicly he intended to lead the UBP through the next election.

"Considering that it has not even been two years, it is a surprise,'' she said. "But on the other hand, one should not be surprised at anything because we are aware of the series of crises through which the United Bermuda Party has been.'' Dr. Saul would doubtless take a different view. Last year, when asked by an interviewer in RG Magazine to explain differences in his leadership style, compared to Sir John Swan's, he said: "I think what will come, what history will say is that David Saul was a team player, that he came in at a difficult time and calmed things down. He got peace and harmony back on the Island.

"Yes, he wasn't around for 13 years -- he was around for a much shorter period, but during that period he achieved these objectives and...Bermuda was a better place for his comparatively brief sojourn.'' Yesterday, looking back,he said said he thought his political epitaph should be: "He did his level best.'' EARLY DAYS -- Premier David Saul arrives at Government House in August, 1995 for his official swearing in with wife Christine and daughter Robin.

PENSIVE -- A thoughtful Premier Saul TRIUMPHANT -- Premier David Saul, a keen long distance runner, raises his arms at the completion of another race.