As a lifelong diplomat Sir Richard Gozney is used to doing his work behind the scenes.

So don't expect him to be making any controversial public pronouncements in his latest role as Bermuda's Governor.

But while he stresses most domestic political matters should be left with the Government he added that deciding what is parochial and what is international is less clearly defined in a global economy wrestling with terrorism and crime.

"Maybe 30, 40, 50 years ago the world would have said all that happens within most countries was a matter for the people of those countries.

"These days it doesn't work like that. If a country gets it wrong the outside world is going to say, hey, that is no longer acceptable.

"There's a legitimate international interest in how Bermuda governs itself — that has not been an issue here because by the standards we have seen Bermuda is well governed although there is a lively debate about all sorts of aspects of that."

He said the IMF report on financial regulations had given Bermuda strong marks but did raise questions on money laundering.

"Simply put, in comparison with some other jurisdictions we are responsible for such as the Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey, the number of suspicious transaction reports thrown up for the size of industry here was quite modest. So people raised the question does that mean people aren't keeping an eye on things here?"

He said the lack of criminal convictions for money laundering had also raised eyebrows by the Public Accounts Committee in Britain's House of Commons although he understood the Bermuda Monetary Authority and the Finance Minister were taking the issue very seriously.

"There is no evidence Bermuda is falling down but it is the sort of very rigorous international requirement that the international community feels entitled to impose on all financial centres — whether it is London, Zurich, Dublin, Cayman Islands or Bermuda and they are not going to apologise for sticking their noses in."

Some have painted Britain's increased interest in financial regulation as a creeping colonialism but Mr. Gozney said it was the international community as a whole, particularly the United States, which wanted reassurances from Britain that Bermuda was not open for abuse.

He said it was in Bermuda's interest to be squeaky clean to provide comfort for existing companies and potential new investors.

But asked if he was concerned Standard and Poor's had dropped their rating of Bermuda, with social polarisation cited as a concern, Mr. Gozney said it wasn't for the Governor to comment on social trends.

It is one of a number of subjects Mr. Gozney said rightfully belongs with Bermuda's politicians.

Indeed many topics raised with Mr. Gozney in The Royal Gazette's interview met with the same standard response — 'that's a legitimate discussion for Bermuda's parliament and its people'.

Some observers detect a more hand's off approach from Sir Richard compared to his predecessor Sir John Vereker.

But the new man at Government House says he is not trying to make a deliberate break with the past, merely trying to make the best of skills honed over years of service in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

Of the complex and sometimes controversial topic of who is in charge of the Police he said Government had every right to set out objectives, goals and priorities — but not set out which particular operations should be mounted.

Mr. Gozney is still settling in after arriving just days before Bermuda went to the polls.

"I was glad to be here for the last week of the campaign because it gave me some flavour of the island. But it was all straightforward, the result was pretty clear."

He said the tone of the campaign was typical of small communities where personalities can count as much as policies.

"There was a lot of domestic criticism of the tone of the campaign. I was quite struck by that.

"When the Anglican Bishop spoke out as strongly as he did on that everyone sits up and takes note because he does so pretty selectively."

But it's not something Mr. Gozney is going to stray into. His only concern was that the process was fair — which he believes it was.

Sir Richard has never lived and worked in an overseas territory but has had plenty of experience monitoring small British islands including the Falklands and Gibraltar.

"When things are running smoothly the active role of the Governor is very limited — it should be."

Sir Richard often had to visit the Falklands from an FCO base in Argentina in the late 1970s and early 1980s — just before Argentina invaded, sparking a bloody conflict which took nearly 1,000 lives.

His role was exclusively about liaising with the Argentinians over the island 300 miles off its coast.

It was a fascinating posting which involved the most exacting diplomacy skills as virtually all communications with the Falklands were done via Argentina — including passenger traffic, air services, fuel and emergency medical politics.

"Because of the politics of it we had to ensure everything we did didn't give a point in the sovereignty game to Argentina."

Equally the Argentinians were focused on not conceding any political turf.

"It was a minuet. You would not believe the amount of curious diplomatic language that surrounded one shipload of fuel going across from Patagonia to the Falklands.

"All that was swept aside in 1982, the year after I left, when the Argentinians invaded. They were turfed out by the British armed forces a couple of months later."

In the mid-1980s Sir Richard was head of the political section in Madrid when Spain was joining the European Union amid lingering controversy over their claim to the British-owned Gibraltar island just off Spain's southern coast.

Britain was pushing for the end to restrictions on access into Spain from Gibraltar which barred vehicles and British visitors crossing over.

Sir Richard visited regularly and sees some similarities with Bermuda. It has an economy based on financial services and tourism and has an ex-military element but it is considerably more cramped with 27,000 people squeezed on to a rock of just 2.5 square miles.

With any Overseas Territory the Governor must find the right balance of knowing when to get involved and when to stay out of it.

Sir Richard said: "All domestic matters are for the Bermuda Government. The difficulty is finding what is domestic and what isn't.

"Maybe 50 years ago if people in Bermuda decided to wreck their coral reef that would be a purely domestic matter. It isn't anymore.

"Maybe 50 years ago if there was shenanigans over public money and it led to local talk of corruption maybe that would have been shrugged off. It certainly isn't the case now, there is an international standard — the world has moved on."

Asked if Bermuda needed a Freedom of Information Act Sir Richard said: "As a matter of principle we in Britain have worked this through quite slowly and quite carefully and after many years of debate came out with quite a strong freedom of information legislation.

"Having done that after a lot of thought and not a few bumps on the road, for the places we have responsibility for, including the Overseas Territories, we are keen to encourage people down that road."

But Sir Richard added he had not been given instructions by the British Government to insist Bermuda go that route — again because it is an issue for Bermuda's parliament.

The Freedom of Information Act has changed things greatly in Britain by adding to the workload of Government departments, said Sir Richard.

"They have to spend a lot of time finding detailed answers to questions which might go back quite a long way — how much money was spent, or what was done — it's not cost free."

Asked if he was satisfied the Auditor General was adequately protected and provided for given he did not have control of his own budget Sir Richard said: "You need a good deal of autonomy in how you run an Auditor General's office — sufficient autonomy so he need not worry about the budget being squeezed in reaction to something uncomfortable that he may say."

In recent years Mr. Dennis has been removed from his offices at short notice and put into a new building.

Last year he was arrested in connection with leaked BHC documents but after several interviews was not charged.

Asked if Mr. Dennis was being harassed Sir Richard said he wasn't here when those events happened.

"But I would go back to the Constitution which says very clearly that the Auditor General, when he carries out his functions, shall not be subject to direction or control of any other person or authority.

"In other words the Constitution lays down that the autonomy of the Auditor General is pretty absolute. I take that very seriously."

But Sir Richard has no plans as yet to raise the issue in his talks with Government.

Asked if he was concerned about the arrest of the Auditor General last year he said: "Yes, any country must be concerned. We would be concerned about any country for which we had responsibility where the Auditor General is arrested.

"There needs to be very, very strong grounds for that and just as I am sure happened under my predecessor if that happens the Governor of the day has to ask some pretty searching questions of all those involved.

"I won't go further than that. I certainly hope it is something that won't happen again. If you get to the point where the Auditor General has to be arrested things have gone wrong."

FACTBOX

Sir Richard, 56, is a career diplomat and has worked in Argentina, Indonesia and Swaziland. He has also worked in the Foreign Commonwealth Office as Head of Section for NATO nuclear arms control, Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary and Head of Security Policy Department.

Most recently he was British High Commissioner to Nigeria and Her Majesty's Non-Resident Ambassador to the Republic of Benin and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.

He was awarded the Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St. George in 2006.

Sir Richard graduated from St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford in 1973 with a Bachelors in Geology.