Friction on all fronts in the life of Brian

Brian Connell

Outcast National MP Brian Connell was confronted in the party caucus room this week with a claim that he tipped off a newspaper that he would challenge leader Don Brash about his alleged affair.

The Herald has learned that National MP David Carter told the caucus meeting on Tuesday that an Independent newspaper journalist had rung him the night before Mr Connell confronted Dr Brash and asked if he was aware an unnamed MP planned to question the leader.

It also understood a staff member in Mr Connell's electorate office has told senior National figures that Mr Connell had spoken to the Independent earlier on the same day.

Mr Connell was suspended from the National caucus after it met on Tuesday - not for leaking the story, but for speaking to the media about what had happened after it entered the public arena.

He has repeatedly denied being the source of the original leak to the Independent, which broke the story about Dr Brash's alleged affair with businesswoman Diane Foreman.

Mr Connell also told the Herald two weeks ago that he would never have confronted Dr Brash if the party leader had not raised his private life in the caucus.

"I think it's important for people to know that it was not premeditated and I did not initiate the discussion," he said then.

Mr Carter's allegations in this week's caucus are not understood to have extended to accusing Mr Connell of telling the newspaper what subsequently occurred when he did confront Dr Brash.

But if true they could at the least suggest that by contacting the Independent beforehand, Mr Connell was intent on forcing allegations about Dr Brash's affair into the public eye.

If proven, this may well have seen him expelled, rather then simply suspended from the caucus, if not the party.

Mr Connell is understood to have denied the claims in caucus on Tuesday.

He yesterday refused to discuss what happened in that meeting, but said "I just can't recall if I did or not" speak to the Independent the day before he confronted Dr Brash.

"I'm not being evasive, I just can't recall it. It was certainly nothing regarding Don Brash or the caucus meeting."

The Herald has been told Mr Connell's relationship with his electorate worker has broken down as a result of her communicating details of the Independent phone call and other matters to National figures and she was now on "sick leave".

Mr Connell said the staff member was on annual leave which had been planned for some time.

He conceded there were some "issues" between the pair but said it had nothing to do with the current issue.

He also said that he had "heard she'd had a discussion with [senior MP] Nick Smith because he rang [the electorate office] and asked for her home number, but I don't know whether that happened at all".

"I am not the source. I know a couple of people are trying to run that line, but it's not true. I would love you to get to the bottom and expose the person who did it because it wasn't me."

The Independent reporter who wrote the story two weeks ago refused to comment at all yesterday, saying he would not discuss sources.

Mr Carter also refused to comment about discussions he had with journalists. The electorate worker refused to comment and hung up.

Mr Connell tried to keep his head down yesterday, saying he was still considering his political future.

However, he was reported in his local paper, the Ashburton Guardian, as saying he had two courses of action which he was still considering.

"I can put my head down and say while I have been poorly treated, I can forget about it all, work hard and hope I'm reinstated, or I can take the moral high ground and come out swinging. I'd kiss my political career goodbye, but I'd take a few people out with me."

He told the Herald afterwards he believed he was talking off the record to the Ashburton reporter at the time. His final comments to the paper were not intended to be a threat and were just "musings".