PM briefly succumbs to stomach bug

Helen Clark shook off a stomach bug to inspect the VJ Day guard of honour at Parliament yesterday afternoon. Picture / Mark Mitchell

The normally fit Prime Minister took sick leave from Cabinet and media interviews yesterday with a stomach bug but by the afternoon she had bounced back for the 60th anniversary of VJ Day in Wellington - and a little campaign mud-slinging.

The VJ Day event had Opposition MPs complaining afterwards that Helen Clark and her Labour Cabinet colleagues had hogged the show and shut them out of what should have been a cross-party parliamentary occasion.

National deputy leader Gerry Brownlee also thought it was too much for Helen Clark to preside over two reviews of the honour guard when it was normally the job of the Governor-General.

"Helen Clark is the Prime Minister, not the president," said Mr Brownlee.

After inspecting a joint forces guard of honour on Parliament's forecourt, Helen Clark hosted several hundred veterans and members of the diplomatic corps in the Grand Hall for hot drinks, sausage rolls, Bellamy's port and the sounds of the Air Force swing band.

Opposition MPs were not invited or given details of the march-past of veterans at Parliament steps, and when they did turn up some were asked by security staff to move away.

"I think the Labour Party grabbed the occasion, grandstanded, and I think it is a very bad look being so close to an election," Mr Brownlee said.

"I don't want to mar what was a good day for [the veterans] but I just think it could have been a better day if the Prime Minister and the rest of the Labour Party had been a bit bigger about things and not decided to try and grab it for political advantage."

The events at Parliament followed a service in the Anglican Cathedral across the road which was attended by the Governor-General, Dame Silvia Cartwright.

She is, in title only, the commander-in-chief of the armed services and reviews honour guards on state occasions.

But on other occasions, others can and do.

In a speech in the Grand hall, Helen Clark expressed gratitude to all who played a part to secure victory in World War II. All had different memories of August 15, 1945, the end of six long and tragic years of war.

"Our veterans all have memories of that date, and of the conflicting emotions of sadness, grief and relief and of pride in a battle against militarism and fascism fought and won," her speech notes said.

But she apparently decided to drop the potentially sensitive reference to fighting "militarism" - something the United States is often accused of these days - and referred only to pride in a battle "hard fought and won".

Through a spokesman, Helen Clark dismissed Mr Brownlee's criticisms as a "case of sour grapes". It was a formal state occasion was was handled "appropriately", he said.

But the emphasis she has put on marking New Zealand's military history has been one of the hallmarks of her six years as Prime Minister.

Setting up the tomb of the Unknown Warrior was one of her proudest achievements, she told the Herald in a recent interview.