MP.

Ms Gordon will officially move from her current job at the Environment Ministry to the hot seat at the Cabinet Office on Thursday.

And last night an old schoolfriend from the Berkeley Institute predicted Ms Gordon would make the job her own.

And she warned anyone who considered Ms Gordon a lightweight risked being floored by a heavyweight verbal punch.

The woman -- who asked not to be named -- said: "People underestimate her because she's so easy to talk to -- but they do that at their peril.'' The schoolfriend remembered the young Pamela as "outgoing, with a bubbly personality''.

She added: "She could fit in with any age group -- she was very mature for her age. She could always hold her own in a conversation.'' Ms Gordon -- the daughter of Trinidad-born civil rights and trade union hero, the late Dr. E.F. Gordon, and Mildred Bean -- entered politics when she ran for the United Bermuda Party in Pembroke East in 1989. A year later, she entered the Senate under the UBP banner.

Her membership in the UBP caused controversy and family dispute as it represented a break with the labour-oriented and Progressive Labour Party family tradition.

Ms Gordon took the brief of Youth and Sport in 1992 and the mother-of-two carried the same portfolio into House of Assembly in October, 1993.

She held that job under Sir John Swan and his 1995 successor David Saul. But she swapped jobs with Environment Minister Tim Smith after a radio microphone picked up remarks he made about a planning application from McDonald's franchise rebel Trevor Moniz.

The former owner/manager of the Moonglow bar and restaurant in St. George's, she has worked at the St. George's Club since 1983, starting as a sales accountant and working her way up to controller.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in business administration and is currently studying for a Masters Degree at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.

The friend admitted some eyebrows might be raised at the fact Ms Gordon had her first child, Veronica, while still a teenager and that she is a divorcee.

But the friend said: "All you have to do is look at how well she has done.

She had a child early -- but that child has just graduated with a law degree, which speaks to the type of mother she has been.

"She put her children first -- if she hadn't got pregnant early she could have gone much further earlier. She has more than enough ability but she put her career on hold to bring up her kids.'' The woman noted some older Bermudians might still regard the daughter of the founder of the Bermuda Workers' Association, now the Bermuda Industrial Union, as something of a traitor.

But the friend said: "That also speaks to her strength of character. She was prepared to go against family tradition to do what she thought was right, even though the reaction from some people, even members of her family, must have weighed heavily on her.'' She added: "I'm proud of her and a lot of other people who know her will be, too. Being a woman, I've no doubt she'll do very well.'' She has already represented her Country abroad. In November last year she led a delegation to an International Maritime Organisation conference in London amid an impasse over Bermuda's asbestos waste problem -- and won concessions on dumping at sea for small island nations.

HATS OFF -- Pamela Gordon PREMIER VIP WOMEN WOM