Cherie Blair's speech to the Bar Association last week was virtually identical to the one she gave in Australia earlier this year.

In April, Mrs. Blair spoke at the 13th Commonwealth Law Conference and gave a talk entitled "Common Wealth" which had four sections: human rights, rule of law, democracy and wealth.

Mrs. Blair spoke at a private Bar Association cocktail reception and dinner at Commissioners House last Sunday.

A comparison of the two speeches revealed slight differences in the sequence of paragraphs but roughly ten pages out of the 12-page speech to the Bar Association have identical content to the Common Wealth speech. Attendees at the Bar Association dinner had mixed reactions. The consensus was that it was a great social occasion, but the speech was more suited to an academic audience than an after-dinner one.

It was bound to be dry, given the technical nature of the subject and the audience, commented one lawyer. "A good after dinner speaker is self deprecating and injects a little humour," said Trevor Moniz, who was celebrating his birthday at the event and was serenaded by the Bermuda Regiment.

Mr. Moniz, a former Bar Association president, said he was not surprised to learn that the speech was the same as the one that Mrs. Blair gave in April.

"Personally I'm happy that I was able to hear that speech without the cost of going to Australia," he remarked.

Asked whether it was beholden on after dinner speakers to research local issues, Mr. Moniz said that in his opinion that would be inappropriate.

The chair of the Bermuda bar association social committee, Justin Williams, said: "If it is the case that the speech is in some ways similar to one Ms Booth [Mrs. Blair's maiden name may have given before, what is important to the Bermuda Bar is that Ms Booth took time out of her busy schedule as a leading Queen's Counsel to come to Bermuda to personally deliver a speech on what was an important occasion to the Bermuda Bar on a very important topic.

"World leaders, statesmen and even local politicians often give a similar speech where the message is an important one."

Guests paid $150 each for the private dinner.

Mr. Williams confirmed last week that the Bermuda Bar Association paid for Mrs. Blair to fly to Bermuda, but did not disclose whether she had received a fee for appearing.

Local Press were not invited to the event and the speech was only released to The Royal Gazette on Thursday evening, just as Mrs. Blair was leaving the Island.

Both speeches covered human rights, democracy and the rule of law and contained identical paragraphs, including:

On Democracy: "It is by no means easy to provide a definition of what Winston Churchill described as "the worst system of government except for all others", but international law is already striving to reach agreement on a minimum content or standard of democracy."

On Human Rights: "Member states have therefore taken seriously Archbishop Desmond Tutu's reminder that 'hat dehumanises you inexorable [sic dehumanises me', and have collectively committed themselves to the values of freedom, equality and respect for human dignity, values which are the cornerstone of social justice and human development."

On the Rule of Law: "The rule of law therefore lays the basis for the Commonwealth's hope for the achievement of human rights. If an example were needed, the recent events in Zimbabwe alone are evidence of how, without a healthy respect for the rule of law, citizens' human rights are put in doubt."