KEY POINTS:
Former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley revealed at the weekend that Jim Bolger called her to his prime ministerial office early in 1997 to seek a public assurance from her that she would not challenge him for the leadership.
She said the conversation was "calm and dignified", but she declined to give him the commitment.
"If the caucus or the New Zealand National Party felt at any stage a change was required, it was the obligation of any of us who were required to lead to respond to that call."
In Easter that year she discussed with her family, which included two teenage children at the time, the prospect of challenging Mr Bolger.
She made her move six months later while he was away overseas and when he returned he was persuaded he would lose a caucus vote so he agreed to step down.
The leadership change was among the issues canvassed at a conference in Parliament on "The Bolger Years" held by Victoria University's Stout Research Centre at the weekend.
Mrs Shipley has been reluctant to talk about the details of the coup but said she would write a detailed account of it.
She said the seeds of the leadership change had been sown well before 1996 and implied that it was a result of concerns over the brakes being applied to the reforms begun by Labour Finance Minister Sir Roger Douglas and continued by National's 1990-93 Finance Minister Ruth Richardson.
But she also blamed the detailed coalition agreement that had been negotiated between National and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters in late 1996 to form the first MMP Government.
"That key issue alone, I think, led to an enormous disquiet in our caucus and it certainly led to significant disquiet in the party," Mrs Shipley said.
The coalition agreement led to enormous difficulties as the Asian crisis started to appear and economic pressure started to emerge.
"My recollection is that Winston's desire to be Treasurer at that time became less enthusiastic as he realised the complexity of trying to deal with a head wind and not a tail wind."
Mrs Shipley said she tried to persuade Mr Bolger against publishing the coalition agreement.
"I knew that if the fiscal position changed or the political position changed then every alteration on every sentence of that coalition agreement would be seen as a broken promise or a defeat or a problem within the coalition parties, and that subsequently proved to be true."
She revealed that problems in her relationship with Mr Peters - "or lack of one" - began in 1987 when he, as a National colleague, claimed that only the leader's "toadies" - including herself - had been promoted. (Several of her supportive colleagues later presented her with a green toad ornament.)
