New Zealand PM breaks speed limit to watch rugby

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark is under fire after her motorcade broke speed limits so she could attend a rugby test match between New Zealand and arch rival Australia last week.


When New Zealand's All Blacks took on the Australian Wallabies for the Bledisloe Cup in Wellington on Saturday, Clark was stuck on the South Island and her flight was cancelled.


Clark's police escort decided to drive the prime minister 120 miles from the town of Waimate to Christchurch, in two hours, to catch a flight to Wellington. The open road limit in New Zealand is 100 km per hour (62 mph) and 50 kph (31 mph) in towns.


"The motorcade was conducted at speeds which we are advised were in excess of the posted speed limits," a police spokeswoman said in a statement.


The opposition ACT party's justice spokesman Stephen Franks said Clark must take full responsibility for her three-car motorcade breaking the law.


"She must have known her motorcade was screaming through the country -- perhaps she thinks it should be normal to scatter peasants like a South American dictator," Franks said.


Clark caught her flight to Wellington and watched New Zealand retain the Bledisloe Cup with a convincing 16-7 victory.


"That's not a judgment that I made. Police made a judgment about the mode of transport and the way it was done and they will have to deal with those issues when they do the investigations," Clark said.