Hillary Clinton to step down as Barack Obama’s secretary of state

The US secretary of state told her staff this week she intends to take a break from front-line politics after two decades of public service.

Her announcement has failed to quell speculation that a 2016 presidential campaign could still be on the cards. Those who know Mrs Clinton personally are not ruling out such as move.

Bill Galston, a friend, and former adviser to her husband former president Bill Clinton, said: “I don’t know [if she will run] and I’m not sure she knows either.”

Now a political analyst at the Washington-based think-tank, the Brookings Institution, Mr Galston continued: “But I do know that her line about finding out how tired she is isn’t a throw away. I’ve known her reasonably well over the years and she has given everything to this job.”

The toll that the job and its endless travelling has had on her physically was implicit in comments she gave this week. Asked again if she could be persuaded to run as vice-president in this year’s election, Mrs Clinton replied: “Oh my goodness,” before adding: “I have made it clear that I will certainly stay on until the president nominates someone and that transition can occur. But I think after 20 years of being on the high wire of American politics and all of the challenges that come with that, it would be probably a good idea to just find out how tired I am.”

Just as she seemed about to close the door on her political ambitions, she left it ajar, by not ruling out an eventual return.

“Everyone always says that when they leave these jobs,” she told department of state employees amid laughter.

If Mrs Clinton does leave Washington after the November presidential election, she will do so with her reputation largely enhanced by a successful stint as secretary of state.

Hers was one of the first appointments made by president Barack Obama after he was inaugurated in 2009.

She went on to defy critics who said she would use the position to undermine Mr Obama, who beat her to the fiercely-fought 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Insiders say she was quick to let it be known to employees in the state department that talk of rifts with the White House or leaks to the media would not be tolerated.

Instead she has helped carve out Mr Obama’s foreign policy, including withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, international consensus-building over Iran and support for the Arab spring.

As a result of her successes, the Republican Party – which usually scores points on foreign policy in election years – has not put Mr Obama’s record overseas high up their attack agenda.

Mrs Clinton has proved a popular figure, topping Gallup’s chart of most admired American women of 2011, fuelling speculation she may run for the Democrat nomination in 2016.

In an interview with NBC’s Today show in November, she shot down the 2016 rumours, giving a straight “no” when asked if she would run.

She added: “I feel I have made my contribution, I have done the best I can.

“But now I want to try some other things. I want to get back to writing and maybe some teaching, working for women and girls around the world.”