claimed a total of three planned meetings between her and a UK review team looking at the Civil Service had been called off.

Ms Gordon said two of the called-off meetings were with Foreign Office personnel -- not the team from the UK Civil Service College and that she had made a mistake.

But she dismissed claims by Cabinet Secretary Leo Mills that she failed to be at her office for a scheduled meeting with the consultants from the UK.

Mr. Mills -- in a press release issued yesterday -- said a meeting was arranged between the team and Ms Gordon for 2 p.m. on July 12 last year.

He added: "The team went to the Opposition Leader's office on Front S t reet where they waited until 2.25 p.m. in front of a locked office. The team eventually left to continue its work.'' Mr. Mills said former United Bermuda Party Premier Sir John Sharpe had died that day and the Opposition Leader may have been occupied with the arrangements.

And he added that no apology or subsequent communication had been received by Cabinet Office from Ms Gordon.

But Ms Gordon said Sir John had died the day before the meeting was said to have been arranged for.

And she insisted only the idea of a meeting had been touted -- and that neither she nor her secretary had received notification of a date and time.

She said: "There was no letter of confirmation of the date or time. There is nothing in my appointment diary or my secretary's diary.'' And Ms Gordon said no-one had ever contacted her to complain about her non-attendance on the day the team arrived.

She added: "This is the first I'm hearing of this. No-one called to ask where I was -- five months later is the first I'm hearing this ever even happened.'' And Ms Gordon said there were many other UBP figures -- including three ex-Premiers with decades of experience -- who could have been spoken to instead to gather input from the party which governed Bermuda for 30 years.

She added that -- if information she had received on the subject which indicated that Premier Jennifer Smith did not want UPB input into the study was wrong -- she would admit her error.

Pamela Gordon