Tensions over the appointment of Bermuda?s new Chief Justice will not be the only fireworks at this week?s Overseas Territories Consultative Council (OTCC) meeting in London.

The leader of Anguilla is set to clash with Britain after accusing London of being out of step with the international community for allegedly curtailing the island?s moves to modernise its constitution. The three-day meeting which began yesterday is focusing on the changing role of governors in Overseas Territories (OTs).

Britain?s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is expected to be forced to make a decision on Bermuda?s new Chief Justice because Premier Alex Scott and Governor Sir John Vereker cannot agree on the candidate.

Mr. Scott wants naturalised Bermudian judge Norma Wade- Miller, while Sir John favours ? according to the Premier ? the Chief Justice of Turks and Caicos, Richard Ground, a former Puisne judge in Bermuda.

Bermuda Public Services Union general secretary Edward Ball has urged Islanders to kick up a storm if Mrs. Justice Wade-Miller is not named as successor to Chief Justice Austin Ward.

Anguilla?s Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming has fired off an angry letter to Overseas Territories Minister Bill Rammell after Mr. Rammell said ?free association? as defined by the United Nations was not an option for the island as it moved towards updating its constitution.

?We in Anguilla were labouring under the impression that the UK was genuinely committed to a thorough modernisation of OT constitutions,? Mr. Fleming wrote to Mr. Rammell on December 2. ?It remains our view that the process of reform now under way should not be either curtailed by artificial time lines or limited by excluding options for change from our discussions particularly when some of these options have the endorsement and blessing of the international community.

?Your letter of November 12, 2003 has the potential, if left unchecked, to compromise the notions on which the constitutional reform exercise has been built. The position adopted by the UK, is an unfortunate curtailment of discussion at the upcoming Overseas Territories Consultative Council.

?While we are aware of the UK?s stated need to retain certain reserved powers so long as we remain in a non-independent status, the manner in which those powers are constitutionalised and exercised in modern democratic societies no matter how small, is the essence of our partnership and deserves careful, detailed and imaginative consideration.

?The sincerity of the UK in progressing the constitutional relationship with the Overseas Territories with the UK will in large measure be determined by its willingness to engage in free and open debate in order to achieve a balance between the aspirations of the territories and the UK?s stated international obligations. The shutting out of certain topics and considerations in advance of the OTCC does not auger well for a productive OTCC, and more importantly, for the the advancement of genuine constitutional modernisation.

?It bears repeating that the the productivity of the OTCC would be severely handicapped if the ?position? indicated in your correspondence of November 12 is not revised. The OTs have the right to the realisation of their expectations as regards the constitutional reform process.

?The UK Government?s position as expressed is untenable to us from a national perspective as it is untenable to all nations from an international perspective.?

Mr. Scott, Attorney General Paula Cox, and Cabinet Secretary John Drinkwater are in London for the meeting with ministers from the UK Departments of Transport, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Treasury. Mr. Straw will address the final day of the meeting. The Bermuda delegation will also meet the Brtiain/Bermuda All Party Parliamentary group at the House of Commons, and it was scheduled to get together with the chief ministers of the Caribbean overseas territories before the main conference began.

Further meetings between the territories? leaders are expected to be scheduled arising from decisions made at the meeting, said Government?s Department of Information Services.

Mr. Scott will also host a dinner in London for Bermudian students studying in Britain.