On Friday night he was planning to pack up and leave his office, preparing for life outside the cut and thrust of Cabinet.

Yesterday it was confirmed that Senator David Burch didn't have to clear his desk after all — he was staying put.

The outspoken military man has now become something of a rare breed in Bermuda: a Minister who has served under all three PLP Premiers.

Dame Jennifer Smith's right hand man was drafted in by Alex Scott to tackle the growing housing crisis and went on to boost his reputation as someone who "gets things done".

That reputation ensured Ewart Brown opted not to take the safe route and hand one of his loyal followers the critical housing portfolio.

Instead, he decided The Colonel would be a key part of his debut Cabinet team — someone clearly better to have inside his circle than hovering dangerously on the periphery.

Sen. Burch no longer has the sprawling portfolio of Works, Housing and Tourism, the latter handed to him by Alex Scott as a seemingly stop-gap measure earlier this month in the wake of the confirmation of Dr. Brown's leadership challenge.

But he keeps Housing — and now has the key task of policing, through the Public Safety portfolio, to oversee.

On Friday night, in the wake of Dr. Brown's victory, Sen. Burch told The Royal Gazette: "Tomorrow I expect to be packing in my office so there is a clean path for whoever is going to succeed me."

Hopefully he didn't fill too many boxes before he got the call from Dr. Brown at the weekend, although anybody listening to the Senator's radio show on Sunday night would not have been aware that another chapter in his fascinating political career was waiting to be written.

Several listeners phoned his call-in show to say they hoped he stayed on in Government.

Despite a string of outspoken attacks in recent months — on everyone from the Auditor General, the Governor through to Opposition members — there was no doubting his popularity among the PLP faithful who flocked to one of his regular housing update meetings last week at the Bermuda Industrial Union.

He spoke for half an hour and then took questions from the packed floor, and did not leave the hall until everyone had had their say a couple of hours later.

That hard-working approach has paid dividends and Premier Brown yesterday said that he did not want to interrupt Sen. Burch's rhythm at housing.

He hailed his "no-nonsense management style" and added: "We think that's what's needed."