Jonathan Milne: Mike the mouth is the man Helen can't sack

He is the man whose heart stopped.

Labour Party president Mike Williams gave himself an electric shock when renovating his home as a young man - his heart stopped for nine minutes and he says he had an out-of-body experience.

These days it is hearts in the Beehive that must stop when he opens his mouth. Perhaps it was an out-of-body experience that caused Williams to tell the NZ Herald last month that the Budget contained a "deep, dark secret". That secret turned out to be a 67c-a-week tax cut for Labour's low income constituents, and Labour can track its decline in the polls from voters' discovery of the meagre extent of that tax cut.

Perhaps he was floating outside his body when he embarrassed Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen with his behaviour at a meeting with Auckland business leaders to discuss the region's transport woes.

Maybe his mind was disembodied when he gave conflicting explanations about star Labour fundraiser and candidate Steven Ching's mysterious disappearance from the party conference as the Herald on Sunday investigated his non-disclosure ofa guilty plea for obstructing afisheries officer.

Certainly he can't have been himself when he required Ching to step down from the party list pending an investigation into allegations against the candidate, only to discuss reinstating him under legal threat.

When an MP becomes a problem, Prime Minister Helen Clark is usually quick to require them to stand aside until the problem is fixed. And usually, Mike Williams would be Mr Fixit.

Whether the problem was Dover Samuels, or John Tamihere, or Steven Ching, Williams was always close by, controlling things - holding the hand of the problem MP or candidate to make sure they didn't do anything silly.

As his former counterpart in the Alliance, Matt McCarten, is prone to say: if you're going to cut someone's throat, you need someone they trust to hold their hand.

But what if Williams becomes the problem? Who fixes Mr Fixit?

Sources say the Prime Minister made her displeasure clear after she told a press conference that a reporter had put the words "deep, dark secret" in Williams' mouth - only for the reporter to produce a tape proving the contrary. The party president is understood to have received a rap over the knuckles for embarrassing his leader.

Then last week, Dr Cullen was forced to apologise for Williams' behaviour at the Auckland transport meeting.

Now the credibility of Labour's party list is on the line, only about three months out from an election, after Williams and the board first required Ching to stand aside, then bowed to pressure from his lawyer to discuss reinstating him. But what is clear about Helen Clark's handling of problems is that it's not just about what you've done, it's about who you are.

It took little to persuade her to sack Dover Samuels amid "swirling" sex allegations, and he has not made it back into Cabinet despite being cleared by police. But Clark loyalist Ruth Dyson spent only a short time in the wilderness after resigning for driving drunk onthe job.

Lianne Dalziel, a very competent immigration minister, lost her job over a lie she disputed having told - because Clark knew she would go quietly.

Police Minister George Hawkins should have been sidelined months ago, but Clark's attempt was stymied by support for Hawkins from the caucus' right-wing Blokes Faction.

John Tamihere has been forgiven for breaking his promise about taking a golden handshake then viciously and personally attacking his colleagues in a magazine interview. Clark needs him if she has any hope of holding on to the Maori seats at the election.

David Benson-Pope has been returned to Cabinet and Steven Ching could be reinstated to the list while the police are still investigating allegations against them.

A reality of political management is that there are some people that a leader cannot afford to lose, whatever the embarrassment. And Mike Williams is the man the Prime Minister can't sack.