Former Premier Sir John Swan fears British MPs are trying to muddy Bermuda's name in order to stop the flow of insurers leaving London to relocate here.

His comments come after Bermuda's regulatory regime was branded "appalling" by the head of the UK's Committee of Public Accounts, Edward Leigh MP.

And a report by the cross party group of MPs said Britain needed to get a grip on its territories to avoid being held liable for lax standards.

Sir John, who was Premier for 13 years, called on Bermuda to unite against the onslaught and pointed out that Bermuda was a dependency of Britain by mutual consent.

He told The Royal Gazette: "You don't see a mother, unless they are irresponsible, instead of attempting to guide the child, beating up on them in public.

"Over the last five to seven years there's been a tremendous amount of replacement of British business to Bermuda, principally from Lloyds.

"I think there is a hue and cry by certain people in Lloyds, and who benefit from Lloyds, to the Members of Parliament and regulatory bodies in England to do something about it.

"The politicians who want to ingratiate themselves to the establishment there, which helps get them elected or maintain their positions, are acting on its behalf."

He said Bermuda had a different structure than other territories and regulator the Bermuda Monetary Authority had been beefed up over recent years.

"From what I can gather a lot of these reports are backdated information that might not be relevant today."

Bermuda had met stringent requirements more than some European territories such as Lichtenstein and Switzerland, argued Sir John, who failed in his 1995 bid to take Bermuda to Independence.

"We have always been an open system. When we did the (US-Bermuda tax) treaty back in 1986 a provision was if there was a primie facia case involved with justice that information would be made available and we have always stuck with that.

"We don't hide things in Bermuda, we just say there is a procedure to be followed in order to acquire it. We have to be satisfied that procedure is being carried out, that it involves not just a witchhunt.

"They are saying, in a circumspect way, that it is our fault that these things are happening.

"Instead of facing up to reality, what they are trying to do is circumvent that and create enough noise that it makes it uncomfortable for people to leave London and come to Bermuda."

Sir John said despite Bermuda coming under the microscope in every US election since Lyndon Johnson was in office, the Americans had never said Bermuda was in substantive violation of OECD regulations.

"There is no country that meets all the criteria because the criteria are dynamic, they keep changing.

"It is unfortunate that what these reports tend to do is take these things out of context, out of time and out of reality to what's really taking place because they haven't found out what is currently happening and been more specific other than these generalisations.

"I think Bermuda has been done a great disservice by the mother country.

"I am hoping that the (UK) Chancellor of the Exchequer will recognise that and ask that something be done to determine whether these things are justified and comment on them so the record is put straight rather than leave it out there."

Otherwise it was left to British MPs to pursue their own agenda said Sir John.

He said with other countries out to take Bermuda's business it was important for the nation to unite and put aside partisan political point-making and not simply parrot what outsiders were saying.

"To suggest that Guernsey and the Isle of Man has better regulations than Bermuda? Where does this come from?"

But Association of Bermuda International Companies chairman David Ezekiel said the globalisation of compliance was the way the world was going.

And while Bermuda had always been extremely strong in the know-your-customer ethic not everyone knew it.

"I think a lot of other countries are much further ahead in terms of structure and documentation. I don't think we should be shy of our record."

But he said the BMA had recruited well. "Everything we see smacks of a much higher level of expertise and oversight than we have ever had in the past.

"There's clearly a need for this if there are going to be any inroads into people sloshing money all around the world, there has got to be some globalisation of this procedure so I think it's a good initiative and Bermuda has certainly played its part."