John Armstrong: Peters' actions have PM playing silly avoidance games

It verged on the politics of the absurd - Helen Clark joining Winston Peters in playing cat-and-mouse games with the media, one in Washington and the other in Wellington.

Why was the Prime Minister sneaking into Parliament's lobbies via the back entrance?

The sighting was confirmation she had chosen to take a circuitous route from her Beehive office to the parliamentary chamber for ministers' question time purely to dodge journalists.

They had been waiting in the foyer of Parliament House to ask her why her Foreign Minister was similarly giving reporters the runaround on the first day of his visit to the capital of the United States.

If it all seemed rather ludicrous and unbecoming of her office - she made good her escape back to the Beehive an hour or so later - she had her reasons.

She did not want to be caught on camera commenting on - and thereby further fuelling - the contretemps going on in Washington between Mr Peters and the contingent of New Zealand media endeavouring to cover his talks with senior Bush Administration and Congressional figures.

She would have had no option but to side with Mr Peters, who once again has demonstrated his unique capacity for upstaging everyone - including himself in terms of the purpose of his trip.

The Americans will probably be more puzzled than annoyed by Mr Peters' interrupting Senator John McCain, a potential contender for the United States presidency, while he was chatting to the New Zealand journalists.

Mr Peters was seemingly affronted by those reporters exceeding the two questions he had allotted them prior to his discussions with Mr McCain.

Cancelling a press conference scheduled for after his meeting, Mr Peters later issued a press release saying "an unplanned intrusion" by New Zealand media had been the only down side to a "wonderful and constructive" meeting.

"Frankly it was the most embarrassing, arrogant and insulting behaviour I have ever seen ..."

His anger was at odds with the soothing language emanating from the Prime Minister's office in Wellington which blamed the incident on a "mix up" over media arrangements.

While Mr Peters' behaviour hardly rates as a major diplomatic gaffe - the success or otherwise of his trip will be judged by his meeting overnight with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - the incident should serve as a timely reminder to Labour of the latent perils of combining Mr Peters' volatile temperament with the delicate work of diplomacy.

While the Prime Minister has the last word on foreign policy, she has no control over his media arrangements. Mr Peters not only chose to leave his highly capable and vastly experienced press secretary twiddling his thumbs back home. By all reports, the Foreign Minister has been making it difficult for those journalists accompanying him to do their jobs.

That leaves journalists working in a vacuum which the McCain incident filled.

The only loser is Mr Peters. Labour might want to look on the bright side. Without intending to do so, Mr Peters' mini-tantrum completely overshadowed National's efforts to further exploit the hugely embarrassing contents of the Ingram report on Labour MP Phillip Field's handling of immigration matters.

Still, what happened yesterday is a lesson for Labour. For months, Labour MPs have basked in Mr Peters' seemingly relentless campaign to discredit National which has seen him utter barely a word of criticism of the Clark Government.

However, when you take Mr Peters on board, you get the full, complicated and unpredictable package - eventually.