Terry Lister came a distant second to Paula Cox with just 39 votes last night, but threw his weight behind the new leadership team.

"I'm a little disappointed. However I want to congratulate Minister Cox, the new Premier, and Minister Burgess, the new Deputy Premier. The party will be able to go from strength to strength. That's the key," he said as he emerged from the vote. "It will be a real change of direction, the last Premier having retired. It will be good for Bermuda having this team in place. Obviously I would prefer it if I had won but you don't win every race."

Asked his reaction to coming 85 votes behind Ms Cox, he said: "I was surprised that happened but I have to live with it and I will."

As for whether he anticipates a return to Cabinet, Mr. Lister, who held four different Cabinet positions between 1998 and 2009, said: "That's up to the Premier. The first thing I'm going to do is go and get some rest. I've worked very hard for a long time."

Mr. Lister ran the most high-profile public campaign of the three leadership candidates. He set out his agenda via a series of town hall meetings as well as media interviews and meetings with delegates. Ms Cox, in contrast, said little in the media and concentrated on reaching out to party members directly.

Speaking ahead of the vote, Mr. Lister said he believed his tough stances on crime, education and finance would make him Bermuda's new Premier. He felt delegates were impressed with his public campaign. "I'm the only candidate who has taken the time to thoroughly tell Bermuda what they are going to do and the delegates appreciate that because they know what a Terry Lister administration would do," he told The Royal Gazette earlier this week.