John Armstrong: Benson-Pope hung out to dry by colleagues

Humiliation was heaped upon David Benson-Pope in such embarrassing quantity yesterday that having a tennis ball stuffed in his mouth might have seemed preferable.

It is one thing for a Cabinet minister to be put through the parliamentary wringer by the Opposition.

It is far more galling to be hung out to dry by one's colleagues in such a public forum.

However, sympathy for Mr Benson-Pope had clearly evaporated even within his own party after Labour MPs became aware that they, too, were the victims of the highly favourable spin he put on the police report into allegations he assaulted pupils while teaching in Dunedin in the 1980s.

That resulted in a string of apologies, which Mr Benson-Pope's colleagues were not slow in making on his behalf and which were topped off by a dressing-down from the Prime Minister.

"The matter could have been handled better," muttered Helen Clark through gritted teeth after National's Don Brash suggested Mr Benson-Pope had deliberately misrepresented the police report to back his insistence that the incidents that sparked the allegations had never happened.

A week ago, word in the Beehive was the report was so favourable to Mr Benson-Pope that he would be able to use it to hit back at Act's Rodney Hide and National's Judith Collins, the MPs who raised the jamming of a tennis ball in a pupil's mouth.

But Monday's release of the report exposed the gap between Mr Benson-Pope's spin and the actual police findings, forcing Labour to adopt the only sensible course of action.

Normally Helen Clark indulges in a pointed game of one-upmanship with Dr Brash in Parliament. She did not even bother yesterday. Knowing she was on a hiding to nothing, she instead acknowledged her minister's mistakes, to try to take the wind out of the Opposition's sails.

Apart from telling off Mr Benson-Pope, she announced she was dealing with the way his office misled the media in leaking the police report to the Herald on Sunday by referring his press secretary, Pete Coleman, to his employers, the Ministerial Services unit, for possible discipline.

That embarrassment was compounded by Phil Goff, speaking on behalf of absent Police Minister Annette King, telling the House that Mr Benson-Pope agreed he had been wrong to describe police language as "bozo-ish" and had conveyed his regrets to Dunedin police.

Sitting through all this was a strained-looking Mr Benson-Pope, his voice quivering nervously when his turn came to face the barrage of Opposition questions.

He admitted he had privately authorised the leaking of the police report after publicly saying its release was in the hands of the police - something which had not been "the wisest course of action".

However, Mr Hide and Mrs Collins were only warming up for the big question: did he stand by his statement that the assault allegations were ridiculous in light of the police report saying nine of his former pupils confirmed a tennis ball was in one student's mouth?

This time there was no categorical denial. The minister instead replied he was "one of a group of 19 people who did not recall the incidents or believe they did not happen".

It was a small, but significant softening in his stance - but one he should have made long ago, given his memory of events has been so much at odds with the memories of some of those he taught.

He has avoided prosecution. He should avoid a privileges committee inquest. He has fronted in Parliament. He should be over the worst.

What matters now is whether the credibility of one of Labour's usually more-effective operators will repair, or whether it is damaged for good.