In its first formal statement on United Bermuda Party MP Trevor Moniz' comments that Parliamentary Registrar Sabrina Phillips was "handpicked" for the job by the Premier, the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) has condemned what it calls an "unjust and vicious attack".

The statement released yesterday also repeated calls first made by the Premier on Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons to "speak out against the wicked, irresponsible and irrational conduct of his errant colleague".

Dr. Gibbons' failure to publicly rebuke Mr. Moniz amounted to "unmistakable evidence of extreme weakness or tacit support - or both - for his party and Parliamentary colleague's atrocious assault upon the dignity and the professional reputation of a respected public officer who had done nothing to warrant the ignominy to which she has been subjected," it continued.

"It will also be an affront to those members of the UBP disposed to fairness and basic decency, and to the Commissioners of the Public Service Commission who are not known to have taken any action contrary to the rigorous standards that are basic to their evaluation of applications for positions of public trust such as that of the Parliamentary Registrar.

"The Opposition Leader is now confronted with the obligation to demonstrate that the supposedly new UBP does not condone or indeed typify the chauvinism, the backwardness and the arrogance traditionally characteristic of his party and so starkly epitomised by Mr. Moniz in this deplorable matter."

Last week Mr. Moniz had alleged that Mrs. Phillips, who is the daughter of former PLP candidate Eugene Blakeney, was just one example of people who got their Government jobs through "grace and favour".

He said she was handpicked by the Premier for the job, did not go through an interview process and that the job was not advertised.

Mrs. Phillips denied the claim and demanded that he apologise and Premier Jennifer Smith called on Dr. Gibbons and the UBP to distance themselves from the comments.

Dr. Gibbons responded by saying that Mr. Moniz had made it clear that his views were personal and not on behalf of the party.

Mr. Moniz went on to say, however, that a number of civil servants had been upset by the decision to hire Mrs. Phillips and questioned her competence, saying the draft voters list which had been promised the previous week had not materialised.

But he later issued a written apology which was accepted by Mrs. Phillips. Contrary to earlier reports in The Royal Gazette, the apology stopped short of saying that he was wrong in saying that Mrs. Phillips had been handpicked by the Premier.

Mr. Moniz called this newspaper to correct that story, but could not be reached later for further clarification.

"I wish to apologise for any embarrassment or undue distress that may have been caused to the Parliamentary Registrar, Ms Sabrina Phillips and her family as a result of my comments," Mr. Moniz's written statement said.

"My statements that the post of Parliamentary Registrar had not been advertised, and that Mrs. Phillips had not been subjected to an interview process, I now accept were incorrect, although when I made the statements I believe I had been reliably informed to the contrary. I had no intention to attack Mrs. Phillips character or capabilities of which I have no knowledge."