Paul Henry has one final crack at Hilary Barry

Paul Henry had plenty of kind words for his friends, family and TV3 co-workers during his tearful farewell speech on live TV this morning.

But he saved one final crack at his former co-star, Hilary Barry, till the very end.

Barry was a newsreader on Paul Henry for a year before she defected to opposing network TVNZ, and began fronting the competing morning news show Breakfast in September.

Rumours of bad blood between the pair began when Barry took a swipe at Henry on Breakfast over his controversial interview in which he commented on a woman's "perfect titties".

"Can I say how lovely it is for me to work with three such kind, caring men, so respectful of women," she told her male co-stars on Breakfast. "Just spare a thought for other women who are turning up on other breakfast shows this morning who don't get to work with guys like you."

But Henry had the final word this morning when he paid tribute to newsreader Ingrid Hipkiss, who replaced Barry when she left in May.

He told her he wished she'd been on Paul Henry "from the very beginning".

"Just a couple of very quick words from me," Henry said. "Ingrid thank you so much, you've been here for the last year. I wish you'd been here from the very beginning, you've been absolutely stunning and you have really embraced this and it's been an absolute pleasure working with you."

Henry signed off this morning's broadcast thanking his mum, Olive, who died on Monday after a long illness.

It was Henry's last show as he enters "semi-retirement". His show will be replaced by The AM Show, fronted by Duncan Garner.

- NZ Herald