maintaining a spy network to undermine PLP members.

Several MPS and Cabinet Ministers used the motion to adjourn during the House of Assembly to accuse the Royal Gazette and sister paper Mid-Ocean News of being irresponsible, sensationalist and of making up stories.

The PLP singled out the Royal Gazette as the worst offender, claiming it was biased against black males and had a secret society of eavesdroppers who gave it stories.

Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb called on the Royal Gazette to be more responsible and said she would not speak to one particular reporter until "he cleaned up his act''.

But Opposition MPs launched their own attack on the Government, accusing it of being paranoid.

The onslaught began when backbench MP Dale Butler claimed there was a network of people with surveillance equipment who were snooping on mobile phone conversations, passing the information on to the daily newspaper under the pretence that the details were from PLP MPs.

"They are prevaricators, because I can't use the word liars,'' he said.

"There is a message to us as Government, we have to be very cautious about everything we say, because these things might suddenly be in the paper.'' Ms Webb claimed a story about a possible Government information channel had been taken out of context and accused Royal Gazette political editor Raymond Hainey of being "famous for mis-quoting and making up facts''.

"I am not giving that particular reporter a story until he cleans up his act,'' she said.

The Minister said the paper was not thought highly of by anyone in Bermuda.

The onslaught began after Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell challenged Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson to deny a front page story in yesterday's Mid-Ocean News that reported him as saying the closure of big hotels was a good thing and would get rid of expatriate workers.

Mr. Dodwell said it was clear that there was conflict between Mr. Hodgson and Tourism Minister David Allen over policy matters. He said he was concerned at the message it would send to overseas investors looking to plough cash into new hotels and resorts. And he said expatriates had helped build the hotel industry up.

He called upon Derrick Burgess and Mr. Hodgson to declare whether they supported such remarks.

The Environment Minister said he did not make the remarks. He slammed the Mid-Ocean , saying he thought the story was bizarre, adding that he thought the reporter may have been a recent non-Bermudian arrival who knew nothing about the country, but the byline suggested the writer was a Bermudian. An offer of an interview was made, he said, but he believed that the story had already been written.

Shadow Education Minister Tim Smith said there was a sense of paranoia from the Government towards the Press.