meeting of minds with Commonwealth colleagues.

Instead he found himself trapped in an elevator by a posse of reporters eager for every word of explanation about an apparent rift with his own Government.

Mr. Clarke arrived in Bermuda yesterday for the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting, leaving behind a row in Britain over remarks he was reported as saying over a single European currency.

But as he walked through the doors of the Southampton Princess it was not colleagues who welcomed him, but a contingent of reporters.

Press ganged first one -- wrong -- way around the hotel he was later trapped in a lift by the reporters.

Journalists later denied that they "accidentally'' pressed the `up' instead of the `down' button.

Eventually Mr. Clarke managed to leave the chasing pack behind and got to the auditorium -- where, unfortunately unrecognised, he was asked whether he was a member of the international press.

"No,'' replied Mr. Clarke. "I am the Chancellor of the Exchequer of Great Britain.'' The issue of a single European currency is bedevilling the Conservative British Government with so-called `Eurosceptics' -- a large contingency of Government backbenchers -- adamantly opposed to the idea.

Over the weekend Mr. Clarke, seen as a supporter of monetary union, was reported as saying it would be "pathetic'' for Britain to wait and see how a single European currency developed before deciding whether to join.

Government policy is to decide what is in Britain's interest after the single currency is launched.

The comments sparked fury within Mr. Clarke's party and an attack from right-winger Nicholas Bonsor, a junior foreign office minister, who accused him of being out of line with Government policy.

Yesterday Mr. Clarke said his Government was in accord on European monetary union and blamed the Press for twisting his words.

Clarke row "I've said nothing at the weekend that I haven't said countless times before,'' he said.

He said he and British Prime Minister John Major were in complete accord on the issue. Mr. Major's office has issued denials of any rift.

"It seems to me the whole thing is a fuss about nothing. No one who listened to the radio interview could have recognised it as the reporting that appeared in the British Press. The whole thing has been a fabrication.''