Fran O'Sullivan: Stop the rumour mill and run the country

Helen Clark and Don Brash are both victims of low-life political operatives who are prepared to indulge in covert behaviour to bring the other down.

Clark's victimhood is a result of an anonymous whispering campaign which has spread false rumours about her husband to vilify him and undermine their marriage.

Brash's victimhood is a result of unprincipled player(s) who were prepared to breach Parliament's security and steal his personal emails to use to his embarrassment and that of his family.

Neither politician has covered themselves in glory over the past week or so. Brash has clearly been embarrassed by the media attention given to his marriage after he took pre-emptive action to stop the contents of his emails being published.

He went public about the need to repair his marriage after he became convinced the personal emails, which had been stolen from his parliamentary computer, were about to be made public in retaliation for him raising the stakes on Labour's alleged over-spending at the last election.

He ignored the media's call for full and frank confessions about his linkages to a prominent New Zealand businesswoman and, rightly, opted for a dignified silence.

But he has since earned Clark's wrath by saying he will continue to level corruption allegations against her and the Labour Government.

Clark has sprayed about unsubstantiated allegations against National and the Exclusive Brethren over their role in rumour-mongering against her husband, after news media used the pretext of Investigate magazine's story to run denial stories that Peter Davis was gay.

She has pledged to introduce legislation to stop entities like the Exclusive Brethren mounting attack advertising during elections, she has hit out at Brash's "cancerous and corrosive" presence in New Zealand politics and warned there might be more personal attacks if the corruption allegations do not end.

The reactions of their spouses is telling. Clark's husband, Professor Davis, reflecting yesterday about the vicious innuendos over the past few months, said he had been "dragged blinking into the limelight, diced and sliced and then spat out".

Je Lan Brash, a professional woman who has put her career on hold while her husband pursues his political life, presented a dignified "united front" (her husband's words) at Fashion Week.

There has been an element of unstated blackmail about what has been going on over the past few months. Davis told National Radio's Nine to Noon show yesterday if he had been doing anything like the rumour suggested there would have been a public interest factor in his behaviour.

"My wife would have been subject to blackmail... it wouldn't have looked good for the nation..."

Brash maintains his party is not into the politics of personal innuendo and has had nothing to do with spreading the nasty rumour about Davis. National may not have started the rumour but sources close to it have fuelled it.

Brash has no concrete evidence to pin on Labour over the stealing of his emails. But he is right to suspect the involvement of other political parties, particularly New Zealand First, in the previous distribution of emails from his computer.

Clark believes National is mounting a campaign against her because hers is the first left-of-centre Government to get a third term in the past half-century.

Brash believes Labour basically "stole the election" by misappropriating parliamentary funds to fuel its campaign.

Clark believes National obtained covert assistance from the Exclusive Brethren to undermine Labour and the Greens at the last election. She claims the anonymous donors to National's campaign had set up "cash for policies" deals which would have seen them get favoured treatment if Brash had been able to form a Government.

Brash believes Labour is rotten to the core and cites the Phillip Field affair as an example of the Government's lack of integrity.

Clark and Brash might not like to hear this. But the "back to the wall" behaviour they exhibit - as they play out their respective roles in a political War of the Roses - is fast seeing this country become an international laughing stock.

Put these two in a room together and they might just agree their respective allegations are so serious that a Royal Commission of Inquiry should be mounted to delve into last year's election and obtain the truth.

Each is a respected international player in their own right. Their allegations do carry weight, particularly when retailed outside the parliamentary hothouse.

Labour is clearly in the gun over its $447,000 election funding for Clark's pledge cards But so is National over its $100,000 overspending from its GST bill.

Both sides would be best advised to declare a ceasefire on mutually acceptable terms - until the Auditor-General's report on the election funding is released on October 10.

Then call the inquiry and get back to the business of running the country.