Clark taking note of Blair's predicament

Prime Minister Helen Clark has refrained from sending a goodwill message to her British counterpart, Tony Blair, but she has taken a valuable lesson from his predicament.

Asked yesterday about Mr Blair's plight, Helen Clark noted that it was "quite unusual to announce before an election that if you win, you don't intend to contest the next one".

Mr Blair did this, and has been under immense pressure ever since to get on with his departure and name the date.

Helen Clark - who is seen as an outside contender to be the next Secretary-General of the United Nations - appears unlikely to follow Mr Blair's exit strategy when she does eventually move on.

After noting that the strategy was unusual, she linked the difficulties now surrounding Mr Blair to it.

But she did have kind words for the legacy he will leave.

"I think Tony Blair's Labour Government has done a tremendous amount for Britain.

"I think in terms of equality/inequality issues, raising living standards for people, the money they've poured into their basic public services - it's been absolutely terrific."

Britain's decision to join the United States and invade Iraq had, however, been controversial, she said.

The two Prime Ministers are scheduled to see each other next over breakfast in London in early November.