Brash's bad week comes at the worst possible time

National leader Don Brash made a bad error of judgment even just meeting the Exclusive Brethren, says a political scientist.

Auckland University senior political studies lecturer Raymond Miller said bad publicity surrounded the Exclusive Brethren, particularly over excommunication of members and division of families.

There was also the fact that they were outside the political system because of their refusal to vote.

Dr Miller said Dr Brash's stumble over his knowledge of the $500,000 Exclusive Brethren leaflet advertising campaign would be damaging to National's campaign.

The affair's timing could not have been worse, because it left little time for National to recover any lost support before the election.

"He appealed to so many voters as almost an anti-politician, a person who had not been sullied by politics," Dr Miller said.

Labour had wanted to depict Dr Brash as a politician who was in the pocket of the Business Roundtable and was subject to persuasion by extreme groups and the events of the past week had given his opponents the sort of information they wanted to be able to use against him.

"It's just long enough from the election for the public to think about what this says for his character and his judgment, and to have an impact on the way they decide to vote."

United Future leader Peter Dunne thought the perception of changing stories had been the damaging part for Dr Brash.

Although he did not know how damaging the issue would turn out to be, the impression left in the public's minds was either confusion or obfuscation.

Retiring Act MP and former party leader Richard Prebble did not think Dr Brash's credibility had been damaged much. But he said it would come as no surprise to voters that fundamentalist Christians thought the Government "godless".

Fundamentalist Christians in previous elections had poured their money into parties such as Christian Heritage and United Future only to see it wasted, so the Exclusive Brethren were being smart.