A row over the appointment of an Honorary Canadian Consul may be about to reach the Foreign Office, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

The subject is likely to come up at a meeting between Minister of State for the Overseas Territories Baroness Symons and Premier Jennifer Smith on Friday.

And according to UK political insiders, controversy over the suggestion of Bermuda-based Canadian lawyer Saul Froomkin as the Canadian Honorary Consul could be on the agenda.

Ms Smith is scheduled to call in to the Foreign Office on her way back from an International Labour Organisation meeting in Switzerland.

Deputy Governor Tim Gurney said it was not Foreign Office policy to disclose the agenda for private meetings between Government heads and Ministers.

He added: "It's fairly normal that the Premier of Bermuda passing through London would see someone from the Foreign Office, although not necessarily the Minister.

"The Premier said she would like to see Baroness Symons and we were only too pleased to arrange it.'' The Royal Gazette last week revealed that the Bermuda Government had objected to the suggestion of Mr. Froomkin -- a former Attorney General now in private practice -- as an Honorary Consul.

The objection is believed to have been made because the ruling Progressive Labour Party is still smarting over Mr. Froomkin's role in the Opposition United Bermuda Party challenge to the appointment of political Attorney General Lois Browne Evans on age grounds.

Mr. Froomkin handled the case for the UBP -- but Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon insisted Mr. Froomkin had been selected to fight the case on the grounds of his legal expertise and nothing else.

The ex-AG is also understood to be seen by many in the PLP's ruling circle as having been too close to previous UBP Governments in his time in public office.

The objection is doubly embarrassing for Canada and the UK -- which handles Consular appointments for Bermuda -- as Mr. Froomkin is understood to be a friend of Canadian External Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy.

Protocol dictates that the foreign power notifies the Governor of a Territory and London's Court of St. James, which deals with diplomatic appointments.

The Territories themselves are then told of the foreign power's intentions -- with convention dictating that the appointments are accepted without argument.

Opposition leader Pamela Gordon said it was "offensive'' that Government might try to block a country's choice of representative on the Island.

And she said, in the past, objections would only be raised if a person was not "reputable'' -- which could not be said to apply to a distinguished lawyer and former law officer.