To her unforgiving critics, as a political leader Margaret Eaton was a lightweight. Had she been a contender on The Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar would have fired her for being nice but ineffective, they say.

No-one doubts her human qualities. Letters of thanks would always follow speeches by Conservative colleagues at Council meetings; illness resulted in flowers and a message of sympathy.

She was a good listener and was willing to accept other people's ideas.

But her impact as leader of Britain's fourth largest metropolitan district was, say her detractors, too readily measured by the media photo opportunities she indulged. Surely such a powerfully-placed politician had more important things to do than pose for pictures for this and that, they suggested. Some point to the time when, as Tory Group leader, she once had a feng shui expert called in to cleanse her City Hall office of bad vibrations.

The 'lightweight' argument, however, fails to take account of how she dealt with the increasing influence of central government on regional and local affairs. This is the legacy of former supremo for the regions and local government John Prescott, who contrived to build the biggest departmental empire in Whitehall.

Who else encouraged local authorities to implement the Single Pay initiative, bringing parity to blue collar and white collar council workers by next year at a cost of millions?

It wasn't Margaret Eaton who thought up the idea for Bradford Vision and its predecessor, B radford Congress. Partnerships between the public and private sectors had always been informal. The previous Tory Government encouraged them, especially for the regeneration of council estates; but it was the Labour Government, through Mr Prescott's office, that insisted on the absolute necessity of them, with the regional development agency, in our case Yorkshire Forward, having a substantial interest.

Within a day or two of Councillor Eaton taking over the leadership at City Hall in 2000, she received a telephone call from the-then Education Secretary Estelle Morris, telling her to go ahead with the transfer of the management of Bradford's schools to a private sector company.

There are those who think that Westminster does not trust local government. Dealing with this while at the same time leading the Tory Group through six years of hung council politics must have taken some doing.

Graham Mahony, Labour candidate for Queensbury at the district council elections, said: "Her legacy is that she kept the Conservative Party on the urban map. At one stage she was the only Conservative leader of a metropolitan district in the country. She kept the aspidistra flying, as it were."

Conservative Councillor Simon Cooke takes up this point. "The remarkable thing during the last six years, despite not having overall control at City Hall, it's been a question of Margaret's instinctive understanding of how things should be put across.

"She comes from a Conservative family and understands what scares people like them. She understands the language of politics almost better than anyone I know, understands how to say things and achieve things without frightening the horses (other politicians). The job of leader is to guide.

Ten people will give ten different visions of how to regenerate the city. One of the things Bradford had not done in the past was make a choice. Everything was presented either as terrible or terrific.

"I don't think councillors need to be heavyweight intellects. They need to have the confidence to listen to the options put to them, make a choice and then stick to it. That, for me, is the knack of leadership.

"One thing you can't say about Margaret was that she was spineless. She was willing to make difficult choices at difficult times and see them through in a hung council situation."

Inthe course of her 20-year career at City Hall, Margaret Eaton has been awarded an MBE for services to local communities. She chairs the Conservative Councillors Association and is leader of the Local Government Association.

She is, I gather, exceedingly well thought of among the upper echelons of the Conservative and Unionist Party nationally. She was a member of the panel that decided the format of the election campaign that resulted in David Cameron becoming the leader of Her Majesty's Opposition.

Do not be surprised therefore if, in the next year or two, Margaret Eaton is elevated to the House of Lords.

BAD TIMES, BUT BETTER DAYS AHEAD Iasked Councillor Eaton how she felt about three specific events that happened during her leadership: the 2001 riot, the Capital of Culture 2008 bid and the rebuilding of central Bradford.

On the riot she said: "That was absolutely horrendous.

Rarely have I been as distressed in my life as I was that Sunday morning, driving in.

"In a way it was a very unhappy wake-up call. Collectively, if we don't work to address some of the underlying problems in all communities we are going to be in a very precious position.

"Quietly, there are groups of people working on the things we have in common, creating a collective peg we can all hang our hats on. I think Leeds has got more segregation than we have. I think we are addressing it. A lot of work is quietly going on in the mosques, to make sure mullahs are qualified and speak English.

"What people don't want is to be confronted with the suggestion that everything that's happening is about ethnic minority communities. One of the things we must not do is focus on one community only.

"It's about stimulating people to make them feel they are part of the solution, rather than waiting for something to be done for them. It's buying into reality especially with all the people coming here from eastern Europe. Nobody owes anybody a living."

On the failed Capital of Culture bid: "I have no regrets. It was not about hiding the truth about Bradford but digging under the surface to find what was going on. What has followed from that has enhanced the cultural life of Bradford - the Illuminate programme, for example."

Regeneration: "It's very difficult for the people of Bradford because, unfortunately, redevelopment is not Lego. It must be hugely frustrating to want to buy something and find instead of a shop there's a huge hole in the ground.

"It's a challenge delivering aspirational ideas outside Bradford. It's even more difficult to convince Bradfordians to believe in change, some don't like it whatever happens.

"It's going to be a huge challenge for the next leader of the Council. This is not 'Little Grotstow', it's a huge district; but it does not have huge status."

She said the proposed developer of Broadway, Westfield, was pleased with the rise in property and rental values; they knew they were on to a good thing.