Key sure of 'glowing' mention

John Key. Photo / Doug Sherring

United States diplomats described Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as "feckless, vain and ineffective" and North Korea's Kim Jong-Il as a "flabby old chap" but Prime Minister John Key is sure their description of him will be "glowing".

The 1490 cables from the US Embassy in Wellington are yet to be released in the gradual WikiLeaks release of the 250,000 cables from US embassies worldwide. They are expected to be released gradually over the next few months and yesterday Mr Key said they did have potential to cause some embarrassment.

He was briefed "at a very high level" about one or two of the New Zealand cables. However, he would not be drawn on their content, saying he preferred to wait to see if they would be released.

"We don't know all of the details in them but there's bound to be one or two comments in there that might lead to embarrassment at the most but nothing more serious than that."

There were several cables sent around the 2008 election, likely to include the embassy's assessments of new Prime Minister John Key and his ministers.

Mr Key said he had not been told about that assessment in detail "but I'm sure it will be glowing".

He said he would be concerned if the WikiLeaks disclosure put peoples' lives at risk. It was the job of diplomatic posts to report back to "the mothership".

"There's always a bit of colour and artistic licence about that. So certainly I'm sure some of those cables will cause agitation in some of the centres they've been sent from and some embarrassment, but take it with a grain of salt."

The United States has condemned the release of the cables. Yesterday a spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Wellington said it was harmful for international relations.

WELLINGTON CABLES

* 1490 cables from early 2004 to early 2010.
* 32 are classified "secret", 287 are "confidential" and 1171 are unclassified - subject matter includes Afghanistan, Fiji, economic and financial issues, and the domestic political scene.