Bermuda is unhappy about Britain?s insistence that Governors take a more ?robust? role in the internal affairs of overseas territories, Premier Alex Scott said yesterday.

At last week?s Overseas Territories Consultative Council meeting in London, Britain stressed the need for Governors to play a stronger part in internal affairs because international treaties are blurring the distinction between internal and external responsibilities.

Britain had stressed the ?Bermuda model? of very extensive self-government was now off the table for other overseas territories, said Mr. Scott. And he revealed Bermuda had written to Overseas Territories Minister Bill Rammell asking him to ?uninvite? Sir John Vereker from the meeting, but the Governor did not take the hint.

The Governor of the Falklands did not attend after the island?s delegation told him it would not be appropriate ? which Mr. Scott described as a good example of a ?sensitive? relationship between a territory and a governor. When asked yesterday his reaction to Britain?s view that Governors needed to play a more ?robust? role in internal affairs, Mr. Scott said: ?It would certainly not go down well with the Bermuda Government, and the British Government know that.

?We don?t stand alone in that. It did not go down well with most of the other territories. Some of the more smaller territories are more dependent on Great Britain and the governors.

?I appreciate the Governor sits as the chair some Cabinet meetings. We are internally self-governing.

?We have a constitutional order that does not invite the Governor to play a larger role and we don?t encourage any change of the role of Governor.

?We will work with the Governor on issues in the best interests of Bermuda, but I don?t think it is in the best interests of Bermuda to turn the constitutional clock back.

?Independence is a hot issue for other territories. One or two chief ministers spoke in those terms about moving from the current position to the position Bermuda enjoys as a way-station.

?They saw the achievement of a constitutional order like Bermuda?s as only a way-station on the road to independence. In our case, the question of independence did not come up and we have a commitment to discuss it here before going to London.

?I made it clear that we did not come to beg or plead but to come to discuss our business as partners with Britain.

?If we have to honour partnership, we would expect nothing less. I did not go in the role as an individual, cap-in-hand, but as someone who came to speak up proudly for Bermuda.

?There is certain sense of independence taking that stance. In this day and age, we are not supposed to revert to master and colonial.

?A Governor has choices as to how he conducts his affairs on behalf of the UK. It is not a secret that we did not think the Governor should have been at the conference.

?Our constitutional position is different from other Overseas Territories. We chair our own Cabinet and the Governor has a different position on our affairs.

?But he did go, and we did write to Bill Rammell and said he should be uninvited. It was nothing personal.

?The Governor of the Falklands was not there and when I spoke to their representative, their Governor asked their delegation if he should be there. They didn?t (think he should) and he found other business to occupy himself. That is sensitivity in a relationship that can be managed.?

Mr. Scott said Bermuda was ?not without friends in London? and should build up a network to lobby for the Island.

He cited the Bermuda-Britain All Party parliamentary Group as one part of a network which could push Bermuda?s case.

Attorney General Paula Cox said Mr. Rammell had raised the issue of possibly having local Governors, but did not address this specifically to Bermuda.

And she revealed that in a gaffe, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw referred to the overseas territories as the ?occupied territories?.

?That caused some sniggers and maybe the truth came out inadvertently,? she said.