Government MP Walter Lister said he did not understand the distress some MPs had over failing to land an invite to a state banquet honouring the Queen considering they met her at an official reception at Government House.

Mr. Lister said he aimed to invite a broad cross-section of the Island to the dinner and noted United Bermuda Party Leader Kim Swan had done a great job representing his party.

Previously UBP MP John Barritt said he believed "petty partisan politics" prevented he and former Premier Alex Scott from attending the banquet.

Most of the Cabinet, plus other MPs and VIPs, joined the Monarch and Prince Philip at the dinner at Tucker's Point hotel to witness the Queen toast Bermuda on its 400th anniversary. However, Mr. Barritt was not invited and Mr. Scott is understood to have accepted his invitation only to be told he had replied too late.

In the motion to adjourn at the House of Assembly on Friday, Mr. Lister said "The honourable member did go to Government House [for a reception with the Queen]. If he felt so strongly he should have asked Mr. Swan for his ticket [to the state dinner].

"When the delegation [from Buckingham Palace] came here the first time they said they wanted as many people to meet the Queen as possible, and that is what we did."

He noted that several seniors were invited as well as a cross-section of the community. Moreover, Mr. Lister said most MPs got invites to only one of the receptions not both — adding that many people across the Island did not even get one chance to meet the Queen.

And in response to jeers from the Opposition that the dinner had not been inclusive Mr. Lister said: "When the Queen came in 1953 people that looked like me did not get to see her, so let's not go there."