Cherie Blair, the lawyer wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is to travel to Malaysia for a law lecture and a charity event next month.

Her trip follows controversy in London over a talk she gave in Washington last month in which she earned a reported US$55,000.

"All she's attending (in Malaysia) is a charity event and a law lecture," a spokeswoman for the prime minister's office in London told AFP , adding: "They are private events."

The Sunday Times said Mrs Blair, who under her maiden name Cherie Booth is a respected civil rights lawyer, would give a law lecture on July 26 in Kuala Lumpur and attend the charity event four days later.

BBC reported that she had been asked to reconsider giving the law lecture unless she was prepared to be frank about the country's human rights record.

Malaysia's opposition leader Lim Kit Siang told the BBC that as a well known civil liberties lawyer Mrs Blair has to confront such issues.

Meanwhile, Nasharuddin Mat Isa, the newly-minted deputy PAS leader, said it would be inappropriate for her to speak if she planned to avoid them.

But Mrs Blair risks offending the government if she is too critical and dismaying campaigners if she avoids addressing local human rights issues.

YTL charity event

The charity event is part of a series of events to promote the Starhill boutique complex, developed by the YTL utilities and property group headed by Malaysian tycoon Francis Yeoh.

"He's a great showman and he will really lay it on for Cherie," an unidentified "associate" of Yeoh was quoted as saying.

The Sunday Times recalled that YTL acquired Wessex Water, a British utility, three years ago, "and is believed to be seeking other acquisitions in the United Kingdom".

The Sunday Times added that Mrs Blair has been invited to Yeoh's five-star island resort of Pangkor Laut, although a Downing Street "source" was quoted as saying she would not be travelling there.

Mrs Blair's 90-minute talk in Washington about life in Downing Street took place just hours before prime minister Blair arrived for talks at the White House with US President George W Bush.

The main opposition Conservative Party has called for a code of conduct for British government ministers to be extended to prevent members of a prime minister's family from gaining financial advantage from their position.