at the British Labour Party's annual conference.

We said then that the trip might appear to be a costly exercise with few tangible benefits, but added that if handled correctly, it could pay off for the Island as a way of building closer ties with UK lawmakers and making Bermuda's case for maintaining the strength of the offshore business sector.

And we felt that securing continued British support for the Island's stance on tax havens, airline regulation and the clean-up of the former US bases would be well worth the price of the trip.

That remains true. But the Labour Party trip is beginning to look like a junket, with more civil servants and politicians beating a path to Bournemouth than originally expected.

It remains to be seen if having a Bermuda booth for tourism will really pay dividends; admittedly several thousand Labour delegates will descend on Bournemouth for the conference and it may be that some will have some influence over fellow travellers, but it is hard to imagine that hordes of visitors will visit Bermuda as a result.

It does make sense for Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson and Development and Opportunity Minister Terry Lister to attend, in order to lobby for UK support over the clean-up of the US bases among British officials. Here, there is at least a moral imperative for Britain, although the UK has already indicated that it supports Bermuda's case.

It is not clear why Finance Minister Eugene Cox is not attending this conference as he is the leader in the fight to keep Bermuda off the blacklist of offshore financial centres. This is the most important issue facing Bermuda in its relations with the UK.

Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon makes an important point when she notes that Government is helping to fund the Labour Party conference by paying for a booth at the conference.

If the British Government -- or any government -- paid to have a booth at a local party conference, there would rightly be an uproar. Evidently, other dependent territories, including Gibraltar, have had a presence at the conferences for years.

But the British Labour Party -- eager to avoid the sleaze allegations that bedevilled the Conservatives in their last years in power -- is likely to take a hands-off approach to Bermuda if there is even a suggestion that undue influence has been exercised.

Bermuda must be careful not to hurt its own reputation in its zeal to make friends and influence people. At Bournemouth, the Bermuda booth may do just that.