Welcoming chorus after a rosy result

Helen Clark was hugged and kissed by supporters and serenaded by a Wellington union women's choir as she returned to Parliament yesterday morning to begin her second term as Prime Minister.

She joined the choir to sing her special request, Bread and Roses.

Labour MPs and staff greeted her on the steps along with Progressive Coalition leader Jim Anderton and his only other MP, Matt Robson.

Helen Clark thanked her colleagues and staff for their support.

"It's been an interesting campaign; never seen anything like it in my lifetime.

"To get a major party in the Opposition [National] down to the lowest level since 1902 ... is a fantastic achievement."

That comment brought laughter and more applause and a quip from one minister that Labour could do even better.

"We are just all thrilled to be back, right?" said Helen Clark.

She said there was a lot of talking to do.

"MMP requires us to work collaboratively with other people. We are going to settle down today and start that process but we wouldn't be where we are without the fantastic support of all the people who get in behind us all over the country."

The Prime Minister also thanked the singers - the Wellington-based Choir Choir Pants on Fire - before asking for an encore of Bread and Roses, an old union favourite, which she and her ministers joined in singing.

- NZPA

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