Clinton at Hay-on-Wye

Clinton opening the Rothermere American Institute in Oxford

Former US president, Bill Clinton, attends the Hay-on-Wye book festival today where he is due to give a lecture on conflict resolution.

Earlier in the week he visited both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic urging all sides there to continue their support for the Good Friday Peace agreement.

But, while it is not unusual for former presidents to travel the world gving talks on issues they feel strongly about, most normally give the president a year in office before entering the political fray. Michael Voss reports.

The political editor of Newsweek magazine, Eleanor Clift, explained why this former President was so keen to be out there.

Apart from the money factor, there was she said, the adulation factor, "He's the kind of person who needs the adulation of adoring audiences and he finds that internationally, frankly, more than he would find it at home."

I don't think any former President has left office with the kind of legal bills that President Clinton faces, so he has to make money and fast

Eleanor Clift, Newsweek

So far the talk circuit has taken Bill Clinton to China, Africa and Europe where he can command up to £80,000 a lecture.

Yet Washington etiquate says former presidents should allow their successors a year in office before re-entering the political arena.

However, the former Assistant Secretary of State, James Rubin, believes that Bill Clinton's speeches do not cross the party political divide, " He's not really made a critique of the new Bush administration or really questioned the politices of the administration."

Clinton sharing the limelight

And its not just former american leaders who can earn serious money giving their opinions on the talk circuit. Lady Thatcher can still command top dollars.

According to Eleanor Clift, that's because she appeals to everybody, "liberals, conervatives, young and old, and particularly young women are eager to see a woman who had this kind of prominance."

When it comes to the Clinton speeches though, the audiences can always be assured of more than just a political lecture.

I think one has to distinguish between giving speeches and giving interviews, and being a critic or a commentator on government policies

James Rubin, formedr assistant secretary of state

Explaining to a crowd in Dublin the debt he owed to Senator George Mitchell, President Clinton explained that he first repaid him with the presidential medal of freedom.

When he felt that this was not a sufficient illustration of gratitude, Clinton then gave him teh job of solving the problems of the middle east!