Sir Nicholas Bonsor has replaced Mr. Tony Baldry as the UK Cabinet Minister responsible for Bermuda.

Sir Nicholas takes on the post of Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Government House announced on Friday.

This is senior to the job of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office which Mr. Baldry held.

"At this stage we don't know much about Sir Nicholas,'' a Government House spokesman said.

According to Who's Who, Oxford-educated Sir Nicholas, 52, is MP for Upminster.

A barrister who served in the Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry, he has been secretary of the Conservative Africa Sub-Committee, vice-chairman of the Conservative Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the Select Committee of Defence.

Mr. Baldry has been shifted to the post of Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foods following Prime Minister John Major's Cabinet reshuffle.

News of his move triggered a low-key response from Bermuda's political parties.

While Deputy Premier the Hon. John Irving Pearman paid tribute to his "plain-speaking'' manner during discussions, the Opposition Progressive Labour Party appeared even more muted in its reaction.

The PLP had criticised Mr. Baldry in the early stages of the Independence debate, claiming Britain was giving Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan a "blank cheque'' to handle the issue how he wanted.

Yesterday one Shadow Minister referred to Mr. Baldry, who never visited Bermuda during his term of office, as a "vacillator''.

In other changes, Mr. Malcolm Rifkind, who oversaw swinging cuts in Britain's armed forces as Defence Secretary, has replaced Douglas Hurd as Foreign Secretary.

With the end of the Cold War, Britain slashed its armed forces by

3 Baldry out in UK Cabinet shuffle From Page 1 25 percent, and it was Rifkind who had to steer through the dramatic changes which demoralised military chiefs and led to sharp criticism from Conservative members of parliament.

Forty-nine-year-old Rifkind came to Bermuda last year following the announcement HMS Malabar at Dockyard was to close.

But he declined to hold out the prospect of a reprieve for the base.

Mr. Michael Portillo is Britain's new Defence Secretary.

Yesterday, Mr. Pearman saw no reason why the Cabinet reshuffle should affect the Island.

Britain had made its position on Independence abundantly clear, and Ministerial changes were unlikely to alter policy.

"I don't see the reshuffle having any bearing on us.'' Mr. Baldry's appointment last year, at age 44, to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State came at a time when the relationship between Bermuda and the United Kingdom was facing change.

The closure of Malabar at Dockyard would end a military relationship with Bermuda dating to 1809.

As well as getting involved in the Base closure discussions, Mr. Baldry also found himself caught up in the controversy over the hiring of two British officers to the top two posts in the Bermuda Police Service.

A PLP delegation went to England to hand him a 6,000-name petition protesting the hirings.

At that meeting Mr. Baldry, Conservative MP for Banbury, said he intended visiting Bermuda in the run-up to the Independence referendum, although he later called off the trip.

Said Mr. Pearman: "I always found Mr. Baldry to be a gracious man. He was fair and plain-speaking.'' Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Mr. Alex Scott commented: "I suppose we owe Mr. Baldry a debt for having made it clear the British were backing Sir John Swan on Independence.

"He basically said Sir John could do what he wanted and the tradition of having a general election to decide Independence, as with every other Commonwealth country, was put aside.

"Sir John was given a blank cheque. We owe Mr. Baldry thanks for his candour.''