conference on Bermuda being held in England last night with a speech to delegates.

The speech from the Junior Foreign and Commonwealth minister was made at a dinner in St. Antony's College, Oxford.

Premier Jennifer Smith, Finance Minister Eugene Cox, Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox, Environment, Development and Opportunity Minister Terry Lister, Government Chief of Staff Senator David Burch, and Opposition leader Pamela Gordon are attending the unofficial two day conference.

The conference has been organised by Bermuda-based author and art collector Geoffrey Elliot, an honorary fellow of St. Antony's.

Business begins today when Sir Alister McIntyre, a former vice-Chairman of the University of the West Indies, speaks about `Bermuda in the New World - the View from the Outside'.

The Premier and Ms Gordon will clash next when both give an assessment of the current situation in Bermuda.

They will be joined by British Labour MP Ian Davidson, a backbencher who is chairman of the British Bermuda Group.

Ms Cox will address public policy issues tomorrow before the Warden of St.

Antony's, Sir Marrack Goulding, sums up to end the conference.

Bermudians Nicola Terceira, Colm Singleton, Nicholas Pacheco, and Christina Stoery, who are either Rhodes Scholars or students at Oxford, will also attend the conference.

The Premier is scheduled to return to Bermuda on January 28.