"foreign interference in our domestic election,'' the National Liberal Party has charged.

The party said it wanted to know who put the Congressman up to calling The Royal Gazette with the message that Bermuda must stop politicising the Base issue.

Mr. Torricelli also said it was important in Washington that Bermuda speak with one voice and that that voice be the Island's government leader.

NLP spokesman Mr. Graeme Outerbridge wondered if it was Government's Washington lobbyist or Mr. Bob Squires, the United Bermuda Party's hired media expert, "who has close ties to the Democratic Party''.

Mr. Torricelli told the newspaper on Tuesday that he was calling on his own initiative after following the election issue in Press clippings.

Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan and Technology Minister the Hon. Mike Winfield later denied they had had any communication with Mr. Torricelli.

Mr. Outerbridge said if Opposition leader Mr. Frederick Wade was to be condemned for his actions on the Base issue, "we should first examine the actions of our own Government.'' He said the NLP saw a political motive in the Premier's overseas visits, complete with "photo opportunities, trying to make out a tiny Island's leader look like the head of a government of influential power on the world political stage.'' Businessman Mr. Joe Johnson, who was an Independent Senator up to last Thursday's election call, agreed with the thrust of Mr. Torricelli's comments.

"In my opinion, Bermuda is playing an extremely dangerous game when we start to politicise at the Washington level matters that would be more properly handled at the diplomatic and appropriate committee level.'' Mr. Johnson, who played a part in Bermuda's efforts to secure the US-Bermuda tax treaty, said he thought Bermuda's Base strategy had so far been successful "because it has been done quietly.'' Mr. Johnson thought the political gamesmanship on the Base issue, which has dominated the first week of the campaign, threatened that quiet diplomacy.