Cherie Blair, the lawyer wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has pulled out of a charity event in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumper, a Downing Street spokesman said yesterday.

She still plans to deliver a law lecture in the Southeast Asian nation on July 25, but will skip a charity event six days later that is part of the gala opening of the Starhill boutique complex.

"Mrs Blair is no longer able to attend the charity event in Malaysia," the Downing Street spokesman told AFP.

Talks with Endon

He added that talks had been underway with the wife of Malaysia's prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on how she and Mrs Blair might together "raise the profile of breast cancer (the subject of the charity event) in Malaysia".

News that Mrs Blair - who under her maiden name Cherie Booth is a respected London civil rights lawyer - would go to Malaysia followed a flap in Britain over a talk she gave in Washington in May.

She reportedly earned US$55,000 (RM209,000) for that event, prompting allegations that she is profitting from her status as the prime minister's spouse.

Starhill is billed as "a palace of infinite indulgence" by its developer, the YTL utilities and property group, headed by Malaysian tycoon Francis Yeoh.