Audrey Young: Magnum backfires on Dirty Harry

Trevor Mallard is known as a menace by his friends in the Labour Party - and they mean it as a compliment.

The Education Minister earned that reputation as a Dirty Harry type of political operator, a swashbuckling, trouble-shooting, scheming sort of guy that every party needs to deal to opponents.

It has been a rare spectacle at Parliament this week to witness him being a menace to himself and his own party.

Master of the House Michael Cullen is used to helping out less agile ministers. Yesterday the Deputy Prime Minister was whispering suggestions to Mr Mallard as he was savaged for the third consecutive day by National's Bill English about the scholarship exam fiasco.

It is an embarrassment and has damaged Mr Mallard's reputation among colleagues in the short-term but is unlikely to have any lasting impact on his influential and largely respected role within the party.

Mr Mallard's bigger problem lies outside the party.

His public credibility is at stake. It is all about what and when he knew about problems with the scholarship exam and why he did not tell the public about them when he knew.

By January 26 he knew the worst of it: that far fewer pupils had passed than expected and that there was a huge discrepancy in pass rates between subjects.

But when he issued a press statement that day to extend the numbers of students who could get a monetary reward for the exam, the problem was not mentioned.

National's Bill English has been able to stretch that economy with the facts to a "cover-up".

Mr Mallard's reputation for telling it like it is - for being a straight talker - is questionable.

Prime Minister Helen Clark must be puzzled why one of her most reliable ministers allowed the fiasco to develop in one of his agencies, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. She was said to be unimpressed at the limp response when he found out the truth.

She demonstrated the confidence she had in his connections with middle New Zealand by putting him in charge of race relations issues when it became the No 1 issue last year.

That sensitivity somehow got lost over summer.

When he realised there was a problem he still did not seem to anticipate how seriously the issue would be viewed by middle New Zealand - and beyond.

The response was a press statement that should become a classic in the study of spin. There was barely a carpeting of the Qualifications Authority.

Mr Mallard's previous political disaster was more of his own making - the decision to review 100 schools for possible closure.

There was an element of stealth to that policy as well, having been gradually introduced without announcement and never taken to the Cabinet for approval.

In that case, however, Mr Mallard's image as the tough minister who had had to make tough decisions for the good of the country was personally more acceptable.

This time, he has appeared ineffective. And that has made Bill English's day.