Opposition MP John Barritt believes "petty partisan politics" prevented he and former Premier Alex Scott from attending a state banquet honouring the Queen.

The guest list for the event is said to have been prepared by Premier Ewart Brown and his wife Wanda. Most of the Cabinet plus other MPs and VIPs joined the monarch and her husband Prince Philip at the glitzy dinner at Tucker's Point hotel last Wednesday to witness the Queen toast Bermuda on its 400th anniversary.

However, Mr. Barritt was not invited and Mr. Scott is understood to have accepted his invitation only to be told he'd replied too late.

Mr. Scott has been a vocal critic of Premier Ewart Brown since he lost the leadership of the Progressive Labour Party to him in 2006.

Mr. Barritt said: "Alex Scott was luckier than me. He at least got an invitation.

"I must say I was surprised and disappointed because as one of two longest-serving members of the Opposition I would have thought an invitation would be extended. Only one of us [from the United Bermuda Party] was invited and that was [UBP leader] Kim Swan."

Although he's not seen the full guest list, he knows that Mark Pettingill and Darius Tucker who recently defected from the UBP to form the Bermuda Democratic Alliance were also on it.

"I thought it was absolutely wrong. These things are supposed to be above petty partisan politics and I was disappointed," he said.

Mr. Barritt believes that no such thing happened during the Queen's previous visits, the most recent being in 1994, when the United Bermuda Party was in power. Mr. Scott, who is now a backbench MP, was reportedly unable to attend the banquet after being informed in early November that he had not accepted his invitation in a timely fashion.However, it is understood that another MP accepted his invitation just days before the event and was still able to attend.Asked if he thought this was an example of political partisanship, Mr. Barritt replied: "In the absence of any reasonable explanation one can safely come to the conclusion that two and two make four."Mr. Barritt was still able to meet the Queen because he was invited to her reception at Government House last Tuesday."I was received by her and Prince Philip, and even had a short conversation, and my personal disappointment was eased but this is about the principle of the thing," he said.Mr. Scott declined to go into details about what happened, telling The Royal Gazette:"I would not like to take away from what is such a splendid affair from all reports by initiating, at least on my behalf, a political controversy."However, it is occasions like this that we should be working assiduously to bring the Country together, politically and otherwise. And anything and anyone who works to the contrary does a disservice both to Bermuda and the spirit of the Queen's visit."Mr. Scott also attended the Government House reception and said "it was an honour to be there".Opposition Leader Kim Swan said:"I am advised that the dinner at Tuckers Point was mainly handled by the Cabinet Office and it was a Government dinner. It was disappointing that apart from myself, no other members of HM Loyal Opposition were invited to the Premier's dinner for the Her Majesty at Tucker's Point. "Given the inclusion of other members of Parliament who were not Cabinet Ministers, this would appear to be a deliberate decision to exclude members of the Opposition and an unfortunate breach of protocol by the Cabinet Office."Randy Horton, another PLPbackbencher who has publicly criticised the Premier, was also unable to attend the banquet because he too was told he'd accepted his invitation too late. He said:"I replied quite a bit of time before the event but it was too late. I was disappointed of course." Asked if he believed the guest list for the event was politically partisan he replied:"I think that for me it was a state dinner, I was disappointed it wasn't a broader group of people."The Premier's press secretary Arnold Minors did not respond to a request for comment.