Government has stated that Bermuda has little to worry about with regard to the widespread changes at Britain's Foreign Office.

There may be reasons to be less sanguine.

One is that the Home Office, where Foreign Secretary Jack Straw last held office, was very nervous about the prospect of handing out passports to the 100,000 or so overseas territories subjects.

Widespread leaks in the UK press could only have occurred with the knowledge of Mr. Straw and there is no reason to believe that his mind has been changed since.

In the meantime, former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook was the author of "Partnership for Progress'', the Green Paper which outlined why the overseas territories should get passports and what they would have to do to meet British standards. It is reasonable to believe that as the author of the document, he did one day intend to deliver on his offer.

Certainly, he and his Government were in no hurry to turn the promise into reality. So far, the partnership has been relatively one-sided. Different territories have changed their laws in areas as widespread as capital punishment, decriminalisation of homosexuality and financial regulations.

The last word on passports was that they would come after the General Election.

But Mr. Straw and his new junior ministers, including the Overseas Territories Minister, Baroness Amos, will need time to get up to speed on the Foreign Office's plans and to decide which of the policies of Mr. Cook's team should be continued with.

That is likely to take some time. But it would be wise for Bermuda's Government to indicate how seriously it takes Mr. Cook's offer and to make it clear that Bermuda still wishes to take advantage of it.