Former Conservatives CEO Christine Rankin testifies Colin Craig 'ruined' party with poor decision

Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and deputy leader Christine Rankin on the campaign trail in Newmarket, Auckland, in September 2014. Photo / Brett Phibbs

In the months before the Conservative Party imploded seven years ago, board CEO Christine Rankin said she confronted party leader Colin Craig at least three times to ask him directly if he was having an affair with his press secretary.

"I believed they were having a relationship, an affair, whether Colin admitted it or not," the long-time political operator told a judge today as she was subpoenaed to testify for Craig's latest defamation case.

While Craig denied the rumours, the concerns were high enough that an "unofficial chaperoning system" was put in place between Craig and employee Rachel MacGregor, Rankin said.

"I was very angry with Colin for what I felt he had done in destroying the party," Rankin said as she testified via an audio-visual feed from Taupō. "I thought it had been ruined."

Rankin was one of the final witnesses called by Craig to testify at the judge-alone trial, before Justice Neil Campbell at the High Court at Auckland. Craig is seeking defamation damages from former Conservative Party board member John Stringer. He has argued that Stringer unjustly accused him of sexual harassment through his blog and in emails to other party members.

Rankin said today that she never suspected Craig of sexually harassing his subordinate, but she did believe he was acting in a way that would be "unsafe and unwise" for a party that prided itself on family values.

Former Conservative Party board member John Stringer previously took Colin Craig to court for defamation. Now it is Craig seeking damages against him. Photo / File

"My observation was that you had a mutually consenting relationship," she said when questioned by Craig. "I thought you were very flattered by it ... and you loved the attention [from MacGregor]. I did not think you were in love with Rachel, but she was in love with you ... and that you enjoyed it."

Craig has acknowledged having an "emotional affair" with MacGregor that involved writing her letters and poetry that crossed the line. There was also an incident on election night in 2011 in which they both crossed the line before he called it off, he has said. That doesn't amount to sexual harassment, he has also said.

But Stringer, in his opening statement today, cited judges in prior Craig defamation cases who have ruled that it amounted to sexual harassment.

"This proceeding is hopefully the final chapter in what can only be described as a Shakespearean political tragedy," Stringer said, describing himself as having been a victim of Craig's "lawfare" - involving "a creeping barrage of litigation" over the years that has amounted to an "abuse of the process of the courts".

"All I ever did was stand up for Rachel MacGregor," he said, pointing out that he has consciously decided not to call her to testify for what would be a fourth time, even though he believed it would likely put his defence at a disadvantage.

The reason, he said, is "to relieve her of the stress she has endured in this whole sorry saga".

"She has a right to a life beyond this," he said.

For her part, Rankin told Justice Campbell she couldn't recall exactly how many times she has been called to testify at similar hearings involving Craig over the past seven years.

"I get subpoenaed, I show up, I tell the truth and then I go away and forget about them," she said.

The trial, which started last week, continues on Tuesday.