FORMER Bermuda Governor Lord Waddington has lashed out at a UK newspaper report which implied he thought "the island's power-hungry politicians" would ask for Independence from Britain without first holding a referendum.

The former British Home Secretary said his comments to London's Daily Telegraph had been "very badly reported".

And both Acting Governor Tim Gurney and a source from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London said it was "almost inconceivable" that Bermuda could gain Independence without first putting the issue to a national vote.

The writer of the Telegraph's "Peterborough" gossip column claimed to have heard "dark rumours of a plot to jettison Bermuda from the British Empire".

The report continued: "Lord Waddington, the former Home Secretary who went on to become Governor of the colony, suspects that British rule may be ended - without a referendum - by the island's power-hungry politicians."

Lord Waddington was quoted by the Telegraph as having said: "The last referendum, in 1995, produced a very clear majority for staying British. I suspect that if it was repeated, the result would be the same. Most Bermudians are concerned that a break would damage the confidence of the international business community, but elections are due this year and it's possible that the Bermudian Government might request independence without the authority of a referendum."

The man who occupied Government House between 1992 and 1997 told the Mid-Ocean News yesterday that the report had been somewhat misleading.

"I was quite annoyed at the way they put it," said Lord Waddington. "If you notice, very little of it is in quotes.

"All that happened was that a chap asked me if there was bound to be a referendum in Bermuda if the issue of Independence was raised again.

"I expressed the view that a referendum would not necessarily happen and it could be that the Government would raise the issue of Independence themselves."

When asked about the "power-hungry politicians" remark, he said: "I did not say that. I thought it was very badly reported."

Mr. Gurney said Independence without a referendum would be a highly unlikely scenario.

"I think it's almost inconceivable that a process of Independence could take place without a clear indication of the will of the people of Bermuda," said Mr. Gurney.

"Quite how that will would be demonstrated without a referendum, it would be difficult to say.

"The Foreign Office has always made it clear that if there were a majority will for Independence, then Britain would be prepared to go down that road."

A Foreign Office source said several factors indicated that Britain would not agree to Independence for Bermuda without a referendum.

"In the last referendum on the issue, 73 per cent were in favour of staying a British island," he said. "So I think it's pretty inconceivable that ties with Bermuda would be severed without a further referendum."

The source said the UK Government White Paper on the Overseas Territories of March 1999 also suggested that a referendum would be necessary to achieve Independence. Part of the paper reads that there would be "no intention of imposing Independence against the will of the peoples concerned".