A man has accused a veteran UBP politician of punching him in an unprovoked attack that landed him in hospital.

Sinclair Smith alleged that he was at Bailey's Bay Cricket Club on Thursday night when Shadow Minister of Public Safety and Home Affairs, Maxwell Burgess, entered the bathroom and struck him.

"He grabbed me and said 'I f**king well got you' and then he struck me from behind," he said.

"I don't know why he did it. We didn't have a verbal dispute or anything. I don't know if he was drunk or what."

Mr. Smith said he now has swelling around his eye and had to go to the hospital to get a cut "taped up".

However, Mr. Burgess claimed he struck Mr. Smith in self defence.

"He has left out two salient facts," he said.

"What happened was he said to me that I was 'f**ked up'.

"I asked him what he meant by that and the next thing I knew he was firing a blow at me and I indeed fired one back. I acted in self defence, without question."

Mr. Burgess would not speak further about the incident.

Mr. Smith denied the Shadow Minister's version of the events and said it was impossible that he threw the first punch.

"That is not true," Mr. Smith said. "He is the one to who hit me. I didn't touch Mr. Burgess."

There were no witnesses to the event, Mr. Smith said, and a manager of Bailey's Bay Cricket Club, who did not wished to be named, said he did not hear that Police came to the club or an altercation happened.

But a Police spokesman confirmed that officers did go to the club on Thursday between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. to look into a reported assault. He added that investigations are underway but would not say if Mr. Burgess was involved.

"We do not disclose names of individuals when we are investigating an incident," he said

Mr. Smith said he found the Shadow Minister's alleged attack "uncharacteristic" and added that he has known the politician for a long time because they lived near each other on Radnor Road for a period.

Mr. Burgess has previously spoken on the topic of violence. Last year in the House of Assembly Mr. Burgess spoke out against escalating violence in Bermuda during a debate regarding amendments to the criminal code.

"In all my life I have never lived in a more violent and crime-ridden society," he said. "Never have I felt such a sense of lawlessness as I do today. Some people are walking around the country with complete disregard for the rule of law."

Mr. Burgess is not the only politician to be accused of assaulting a member of the public. Government backbencher Glenn Blakeney is charged with assaulting ZBM correspondent Gary Moreno during last year's Cup Match game. He denies the charge and his trial will be on September 6 at Magistrates' court.