PRESIDENT Clinton continues to believe Mrs Jean Kennedy Smith is "doing a great job" in her post as ambassador to Ireland, a White House spokesman said in response to a report that she will leave at the end of this year.
The White House has confirmed that all ambassadors have received a letter from the President, saying that all posts at this level were being reviewed and that "in general" most ambassadors would be expected to leave by June 30th if they have served more than three years. Mrs Kennedy Smith is in this category.
A report in the Washington Post's "In the Loop" political gossip column, said that following pressure from her brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, the President agreed to allow the ambassador to stay until the end of the year.
The report says "the public reasons are that, with the British elections in May and a new Labour government likely to be installed, there's some reason to keep Smith on for transition during the peace talks".
A White House spokesman told The Irish Times yesterday that though the three year stipulation would apply to Mrs Kennedy Smith, there were "many cases where ambassadors stay significantly longer".
"The ambassador serves at the pleasure of the President. At some point she will be recalled but whether it is a year from now or six months from now is up to the President. At the moment he wants her there," the spokesman said.
While it now seems unlikely that Mrs Kennedy Smith will serve for the full second Clinton term, the fact that all ambassadors received similar letters undermines the claim in some parts of the British press that she was going to be recalled because of a change in US policy towards Northern Ireland.