Premier Jennifer Smith wrote a personal letter to Canadian External Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy in a bid to block the appointment of lawyer Saul Froomkin as an Honorary Consul, it was claimed yesterday.

And now Canada looks set to back down in the face of pressure from Bermuda and appoint someone else to the post.

Ms Smith told Mr. Axworthy -- a close friend of Mr. Froomkin's -- that the ex-Attorney General was "not welcome'' as his country's representative in Bermuda.

And Ms Smith added Mr. Froomkin's legal work for the Opposition United Bermuda Party attempting to have the appointment of political Attorney General Dame Lois Browne Evans blocked on age grounds should disqualify him from the post.

The row is understood to have come up on Friday, when Ms Smith met Foreign Office junior Minister Baroness Symons in London while on her way home from an International Labour Organisation meeting in Switzerland.

A spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry in Ottawa said yesterday: "There have been some difficulties -- we continue to discuss the appointment with the Government of Bermuda.'' And he insisted: "Our relations with Bermuda are still excellent and there are efforts to expand on that relationship.'' But yesterday both Government and Government House drew a veil of silence over the incident.

Government Information Services were unable to get a response from Ms Smith.

And Deputy Governor Tim Gurney declined to comment.

But the dispute has been picked up by Canadian newspapers -- two weeks after The Royal Gazette exclusively revealed the clash.

The National Post quotes a career diplomat familiar with the case that it is highly unusual for a government to reject another country's appointment -- unless the person has a criminal record.

And it quoted parts of the letter from Ms Smith to the External Affairs Ministry asking for a rethink on Mr. Froomkin's appointment.

Another Canadian source added: "Clearly, when the head of government would not welcome an appointment, the Foreign Office is unlikely to push.'' A spokesman for the Canadian Ministry of External Affairs said no diplomatic appointment had ever been rejected before.

Silence surrounds Consul posting An Honorary Consul is not considered a full diplomatic appointment -- but it is believed that no British colony has ever objected to such a posting, which has now caused problems for both the UK and Canada.

Diplomatic and Consular jobs are a matter for the sovereign states involved -- Canada and Britain -- which still handles foreign policy for its colonies.

Mr. Froomkin is seen by some in the Progressive Labour Party as having been too close to former UBP Governments.

The PLP are still smarting over his part in the legal row over Dame Lois appointment as the first political AG of modern times.

And Ms Smith was forced into an embarrassing climbdown by Mr. Froomkin in 1997 after he threatened to sue her over remarks made at a press conference.

The controversy came after Mr. Froomkin appeared for a woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, in a successful private prosecution for sex assault against then-PLP MP Trevor Woolridge, who was later cleared on appeal.

Ms Smith said "seemingly money was made available for a local QC to pursue a private criminal matter'' in a "concerted effort to smear'' Rev. Woolridge's name -- even after the Attorney General had "found no merit in the case''.

Mr. Froomkin -- who took the case free of charge and for reasons of conscience -- said the comments were "serious and malicious slander'' -- causing Ms Smith to offer a full apology.

Saul Froomkin