Key rules out NZ First as post-Election partner

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: John Key says Winston Peters would be unacceptable as a minister in a government led by him unless he can provide a credible explanation on the Owen Glenn saga.

Peters is facing questions over his credibility after billionaire Owen Glenn said the New Zealand First leader asked him for a donation towards his legal challenge for the Tauranga seat in 2005.

Mr Glenn also said that Mr Peters personally thanked him for the donation.

Mr Key said Mr Glenn's letter to the privileges committee was a huge hit to Mr Peters credibility.

"Faced with today's revelations, Helen Clark must stand Mr Peters down as a minister," Mr Key said.

"That is what I would do if I were Prime Minister. Helen Clark has stood ministers from Labour down for much less.

"Governments and ministers must enjoy the confidence of the parliament and, ultimately, the public. Faced with today's revelations, it is no longer acceptable for Mr Peters to offer bluster and insults where simple, courteous, honest answers are required."

Mr Glenn's statements contradict assurances Mr Peters gave to Prime Minister Helen Clark that he did not know about any donation from Mr Glenn.

They also contradict public statements Mr Peters has made that he did not ask for money.

On her way to the House, however, Helen Clark said she believed the matter was "best left" with the privileges committee.

"Mr Peters says something different [to what Mr Glenn has said]. I'm not in a position to adjudicate,' she said.

"I have to be fair; we're in the middle of a parliamentary process. We have a conflict of evidence, we have allegations - we don't have an outcome."

Asked earlier by the Herald whether she still had confidence in Mr Peters she said: "There is obviously a conflict of evidence."

Mr Glenn'sstatements are contained in his letter to the privileges committee looking at whether Mr Peters broke Parliament's rules by failing to declare Mr Glenn's $100,000 donation.

The letter was released this morning after the committee met at Parliament.

A letter to the committee from Mr Peters was also released, in which he says Mr Glenn's statement "does not coincide with my recollections."

In Parliament's question time this afternoon, Helen Clark said she still had confidence in Mr Peters who she described as "hard working".

In brief:

* Mr Glenn says Mr Peters asked him for a donation - Mr Peters denies this
* Mr Peters says his lawyer Brian Henry solicited the money - Mr Glenn says he paid Mr Henry without having met or spoken with him
* Mr Glenn says Mr Peters thanked him for the donation at the 2006 Karaka yearling sales - Mr Peters says they were at the yearling sales the following year but that he did not thank Mr Glenn until being advised of the payment on July 18 2008.

'Conflict of evidence'

The glaring discrepancy presents a credibility crisis for Mr Peters, who is also Foreign Minister.

Helen Clark is expected to call Mr Peters in to explain the differences between what he told her and what Mr Glenn says.

Hide urges sacking

Act leader Rodney Hide urged Helen Clark to sack Mr Peters.

Mr Hide said Mr Peters had misled the people of New Zealand and the Prime Minister - who he said was throwing out her principles to try to "jam through" the emissions trading scheme legislation.

That legislation needs New Zealand First's votes to pass into law, and Mr Peters' party has not yet confirmed its support.

Asked how the Prime Minister could sack Mr Peters when it was a case of one person's word against another, Mr Hide said people should examine the motives of both men.

"There's no motive for Owen Glenn to mislead Parliament," Mr Hide said.

"And then look at Winston's track record."

Mr Hide noted Mr Glenn had donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Labour in recent years along with his donation to Mr Peters' legal fight - now his credibility was being questioned.

"That's a disgusting way to treat a person who's been very charitable when he had no need to be.'

Electoral petition

Mr Glenn's letter says: "The payment was made by me to assist funding the legal costs incurred personally by Rt Hon Winston Peters MP concerning his electoral petition dispute, at his request.

"Mr Peters sought help from me for this purpose in a personal conversation, some time after I had first met him in Sydney.

"I agreed to help in the belief that this step would also assist the Labour Party, in its relationship with Mr Peters. I supported the Labour party."

Mr Glenn said he had never made a donation to the New Zealand First Party.

"I declined an earlier request to so do."

Mr Glenn does not specify the date on which he met Mr Peters in Sydney but Mr Peters believes they met at a Bledisloe Cup weekend on August 13, "well before the 2005 election."

The implication in Mr Peters' letter is that - because it was well before the election on September 17 - they could not have discussed the electoral petition which was begun after the election.

However it was common knowledge at the time that New Zealand First was concerned at the spending of the eventually successful National candidate Bob Clarkson, and that an electoral petition was a possibility.

According to the judgment of the electoral petition, Mr Peters' electorate chairman, Roy Townhill wrote on August 24 to Mr Clarkson's campaign manager, Wayne Walford, telling him his $20,000 must have been breached - just 11 days after Mr Glenn and Mr Peters had their conversation in Sydney.

Karaka

Mr Glenn says in his letter that he met Mr Peters socially at the Karaka yearling sale, he thinks in 2006.

"He thanked me for my assistance."

Mr Peters in his letter says he believes the meeting at Karaka took place the following year.

"I recall that in 2007 (and my diary confirms this) Mr Glenn and two others joined the table in which I and a friend shared a sit down lunch with about eight leading names in the horse racing fraternity."

Mr Peters does not directly challenge Mr Glenn's statement that Mr Peters had thanked him for the donation but refers to previous statements he has made.

"In my evidence to the committee and in my press statement 18 July I did not thank him until my lawyer advised me on July 18 2008."

'Deep contradiction' - Greens

Greens co-leader Russel Norman said there was now a "deep contradiction" between the statements of Mr Glenn compared with those made by Mr Peters and his lawyer Mr Henry.

"I think that the Prime Minister must have serious doubts now, because there is clearly contradiction on one of the key points," Dr Norman said.

He pointed to Mr Glenn saying Mr Peters had asked him for the money.

"And Mr Peters - when he made his great song and dance of holding up a 'no' sign - denied any knowledge whatsoever of it," Dr Norman said.

"I think it would be fair to ask your Foreign Minister what's going on."

Dr Norman also said it would be helpful if Mr Glenn gave oral evidence to the Privileges Committee by video link so that questions could be asked. He could not comment about whether this was likely.