An alleged comment about putting arsenic into Premier Ewart Brown’s meal during a Cabinet office end-of-year dinner at Elbow Beach hotel has led to the resignation of the hotel’s executive chef.

The chef, who is thought to be from overseas, resigned his post after an internal inquiry was launched into the allegation, which is reported to have happened last Friday when the Premier was hosting a dinner party at the South Shore hotel.

A hotel employee said staff had been shocked and “incensed” by the alleged inflammatory remark and it had resulted in “uproar throughout the hotel”.

Last night the Premier’s press secretary Scott Simmons confirmed that Dr. Brown had been made aware of the alleged incident and had been saddened by what is reported to have occurred. He also said the Premier had been made aware that the hotel’s executive chef had since resigned.

In a statement Dr. Brown said: “I deem this hospitality property to be one of the premier resorts in this country. I consider this an isolated situation and this incident will not diminish my support for that hotel.”

TheRoyal Gazette <$>was alerted to the allegation on Monday evening and informed the hotel, which said it had not heard of any such incident but would investigate. Within 24 hours the executive chef tendered his resignation. Elbow Beach director of operations Donald Bowman last night said: “We heard about the complaint regarding comments in the kitchen.

This was brought to the attention of the hotel management and a review was undertaken.

“A senior member of staff has resigned. As far as we are concerned the matter is now closed. We apologise to the Premier, his guests and our colleagues for any distress that has been caused.”

He said Elbow Beach took pride in being one of the Island’s leading hotels, adding: “And we are strong supporters of the Premier’s efforts on behalf of tourism and the hotel industry.”