comments to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Seminar.

And he suggested the organisers could have "given more definition'' to his instructions to review the "Parliamentary/Political Scene in Bermuda'' which caused a controversy on Monday at the supposedly non-political seminar.

"Was there a controversy?'' the PLP senior member asked with a smile during the lunch break. "I guess that's what some people are saying.

"The fact of the matter is that I was invited to give a presentation on the parliamentary and political scene in Bermuda,'' he said. "And that's what I did.

"Probably in hindsight the conference planners might consider that they may have needed to give more definition to the subject. That may be the case but the fact is I stick to my assessment and I covered the political scene as I saw it.'' He added: "I brought it right up to date. What else could I do but tell it like it is?'' Mr. Philip suggested that the United Bermuda Party delegates had an opportunity to refute anything he said, but could not -- due to inexperience.

"Those four people could not mount a defence or present the other side of the discussion,'' he said. "It reinforces for me that they were a weak and fledgling opposition. That's my opinion. If they had been seasoned politicians and parliamentarians they could have done better.'' Mr. Philip said the "best they could do'' was a few "hysterical outbursts'' and pointed out that Senate President Alf Oughton had to speak to Opposition MP Pat Gordon-Pamplin to "calm her down''.

"No, this isn't my first parliamentary seminar. I went to Belize as a Senator, and I have covered Parliamentary Conferences,'' he added.

"As for a conference being no place for politics, I ask, why ask for a discussion of the political scene and having assigned that what would you do? Was I not dealing with the political scene?'' Mr. Philip added: "Politics was injected by the item in the programme.

"I can assure you that there were several delegates who openly enjoyed the discussion and who complimented me on my presentation.

"Rather than being dismayed, there were many of the delegates that thoroughly enjoyed it,'' he said. "They enjoyed the exchanges. It was the UBP that failed to deal with the issues.'' Ira Philip