In 1985, when the fortunes of the Progressive Labour Party were at their lowest ebb, the party was wise enough to have three up and coming and utterly dedicated members in the Senate.

With just seven members in the House of Assembly, David Allen, Jennifer Smith and Alex Scott were asked to take on a heavy load as Opposition Senators, carrying major shadow portfolios in addition to generally opposing a United Bermuda Party Government coming off the greatest landslide victory in Bermuda electoral history.

While the PLP's late leader, L. Frederick Wade, rebuilt the PLP and laid the groundwork for it to eventually become the Government, it was Mr. Allen, Ms Smith and Mr. Scott who carried the fight to the UBP in the upper house.

Mr. Allen, as Senate Opposition Leader, set the tone and his combative and energetic approach showed that the PLP had been bloodied but was certainly unbowed.

Mr. Allen and Ms Smith shared an attention to detail on their portfolios that earned them respect, while Mr. Allen and Mr. Scott both had a powerful sense of what issues and events would keep the Opposition on the front pages and the then-Government on the back foot.

But Mr. Allen's gift for phrase-making was his alone, and in a Parliament not known for a generally high quality of oratory, Mr. Allen was was in many ways, the master of the soundbite.

In some ways Mr. Allen was his best when the odds were at their worst. There were many who were preparing the obituaries for the PLP in the mid-1980s, and few would have predicted that the party would be triumphantly forming the Government in less than 15 years.

But Mr. Allen seemed to relish being the underdog. That should have come as no surprise. As a white Bermudian, his decision to join the PLP in 1967 was an act of political courage given that decision would have resulted, at the least, in social estrangement from a large segment of the community.

When the PLP was soundly defeated in the 1968 general election, he may well have questioned his decision.

But Mr. Allen was also a loyal and dedicated member of his party who believed fervently in its principles and philosophy. So he soldiered on through splits, setbacks and times when the party seemed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory until 1998 when it achieved government for the first time.

Some of the credit for that victory must belong to Mr. Allen, who lost none of his rhetorical vigour when he was elected to the House of Assembly in 1989. Successive Tourism Ministers came under fire from his verbal artillery, and those who criticised him learned they had to be very sure of their facts or they would suffer the consequences.

Given his long professional and political involvement with tourism, it would be pleasant to record he was able to revive the industry when he finally took over the portfolio in 1998.

That did not happen. Whether through hubris, or simply because he felt his years of observing the tourism industry had given him an advantage over his predecessors, he promised a rapid revival of the industry. When it did not happen and tourism continued to plummet, Mr. Allen was, predictably, heavily criticised.

The truth is that the challenges confronting tourism cannot be solved by one man, no matter how dedicated or energetic, and it took some time for Mr. Allen to learn that lesson. And it must be said that the skills that served him so well in Opposition were not necessarily the best ones for a Government Minister.

Typically, he showed no signs of being deterred, and kept giving as good as he got. No one would deny his energy and dedication to the task, even if his enthusiasms at times seemed misplaced, or too temporary. If tourism now revives, and ther have been small signs of that in the last few months, Mr. Allen will deserve some of the credit.

Perhaps his dedication to tourism was only exceeded by his dedication and loyalty to his party and its leaders.

No one has stood by Premier Smith more firmly than her old friend as she has faced growing criticism. And when the Government was criticised for its perceived lack of action after the September 11 attacks, it was Mr. Allen who was the first to step up to the plate to, as ever, energetically defend his Government's record.

Premier Jennifer Smith, her Government and the Progressive Labour Party have lost a dedicated and loyal member. They, and Bermuda, are the poorer for it.