Former prime minister Helen Clark has endorsed new Labour Party leader David Cunliffe.
Miss Clark, who is now the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, says Mr Cunliffe communicates well and is someone people can have confidence in.
She says she first met Mr Cunliffe before the 1999 election and that as a minister he was someone she could hand any problem to and know it would be resolved.
Miss Clark says his election as Labour leader has enlivened politics in New Zealand.
She warns, though, that Mr Cunliffe faces a formidable opponent in Prime Minister John Key.
