Brash reignites public life

Don Brash

National Party leader Don Brash will step back into the public eye today after news of an affair became public but it won't quite be business as usual.

He is thought to be privately weighing up the impact of the affair on his credibility and whether he should continue to lead the party, as is his caucus.

Parliament rose yesterday for a three-week break and the caucus next meets in two weeks in Wellington. While Dr Brash will return to his leader's duties, he will use the parliamentary break to assess his future.

He will spend this morning in Auckland, at a flea market in Sandringham and at public meetings in Onehunga, where he will also visit the DressSmart shopping mall.

Dr Brash went to ground on Wednesday after being challenged at caucus the day before by MP Brian Connell to say whether he was having an affair. The rebel was said to have told Dr Brash he would be unfit to be leader if he was.

But it was confirmed by caucus sources yesterday that Dr Brash himself had precipitated the comment about his private life by telling the caucus that he had been under some pressure at home for some days. He thanked his MPs for their support.

Dr Brash is said to have alluded to the matter because he believed he was going to be asked by news media this week about rumours of an affair with Business Roundtable deputy chairwoman Diane Foreman.

Dr Brash is said to have wanted the caucus to have had some warning that the matter could become public. He has not confirmed or denied his relationship and nor has Mrs Foreman.

Mr Connell said yesterday that if Dr Brash had not raised the matter in the caucus he would not have asked the question. "I think it is important for people to know that it was not premeditated and I did not initiate the discussion."

Dr Brash issued a statement saying that both he and his wife, Je Lan, were committed to making their marriage work. He has also retained the services of Bryan Sinclair, a strategist he employed to help win the leadership in 2003.

Dr Brash yesterday sent an email to all his MPs titled: "We will not sling personal dirt," implying that there is much that could be said about the private lives of his opponents.

"Guys, I strongly believe that we should not respond in kind to the comments about my personal life which Labour threw in my direction in the House last week.

"We don't want to descend into that kind of politics. I therefore ask that none of you refer, directly or indirectly, to any of the gossip/rumours about the private lives of any other politicians, or their families. It is pretty clear that the public do not like this stuff, and even if they did we should stay away from it - it can only distract attention from the important issues which should be our focus."

Today Dr Brash will be accompanied by MPs Jackie Blue, Judith Collins and Maurice Williamson.

Judith Collins, considered one of National's hardest operators, became quite emotional yesterday speaking on National Radio about the matter.

Later she said it had been because of the children involved.

"I know Don's son, who is exactly the same age as my son, and they get on really well and I thought how sad it was for him and also for Diane's boy, who is at the same school as Don's son, to have to put up with that sort of stuff going on about their parents' private lives." She also felt very sorry for Mrs Brash.

She blamed Labour ministers Trevor Mallard and David Benson-Pope for putting a private matter in the public arena last week with their interjections to Dr Brash, "How's Diane this week," "Speaking of affairs," and "How's your relationship with the Business Roundtable".

Said Ms Collins: "This was so low."

She rejected claims her labelling Mr Benson-Pope "a pervert" was on a par because firstly she had acknowledged she had been wrong to say it and secondly it had related to whether he had told the truth in the House.