Brash thought he'd lose leadership vote

Don Brash believes he was supported as National Party leader by MPs who thought he would lose this year's election "less badly" than Bill English.

And he says he also went to the leadership ballot against Mr English in October 2003 fairly confident he would lose it.

The revelations are part of a biography of Dr Brash by Paul Goldsmith, Brash - a Biography (Penguin).

The book was launched in Auckland last night by former Prime Minister and National leader Jenny Shipley. She noted its insights into Brash's childhood, and the machinations of leadership coups "about which I know a bit myself".

The contents are likely to be rich fodder for the Government to use against National and have left some of his caucus questioning his judgment in revisiting the leadership tussle, especially in an election year.

"They [MPs] backed me not because they thought I could win in 2005 but because they thought I would lose less badly, then take the fall for a loss in 2005, leaving it open for someone else to lead the party to victory in 2008," Dr Brash told Goldsmith in an interview for the book.

He also says he expected to lose the leadership ballot.

"I went in thinking at best it was a 50/50 chance, and it was more likely I would lose."

He was pretty confident he had the support of 11 of the 26 caucus members (Maurice Williamson was suspended) and that Mr English had the backing of nine, but that left six that he could not guess.

Dr Brash confided that since he entered politics in 2002 his biggest regret was referring in a letter to Prime Minister Helen Clark's "indifference to the institution of marriage".

The comment prompted Helen Clark to refer to Dr Brash's own past. Days of attention followed on the extra-marital affair he had with Je Lan that ended his marriage to Erica.

The book paints a picture of anguish over the affair, in part due to the strong values instilled in him by his father, Dr Alan Brash, head of the Presbyterian Church.

But while Je Lan left her husband in 1983, Dr Brash did not leave his wife for a further two years, and by that time his relationship with Je Lan had broken down.

He lived as an unhappy bachelor for three years in a flat in Glenfield before he persuaded Je Lan to begin again. They married in 1989.

Je Lan recounts in the book how her new husband was doggedly devoted to an old pair of pyjamas that his mother had given him, despite them being worn with holes. She said it was "like getting into bed with the guy from Steptoe and Son".

Mr Goldsmith is National's Maungakiekie candidate.