KEY POINTS:
"Have passport, will visit strip club" seems to have been the motto of many MPs in their younger days as they confessed to visiting establishments in places as far flung as Amsterdam, New York, Canada, London and Australia.
A Herald check on New Zealand's MPs revealed National Party leader John Key was not alone when he admitted yesterday to visiting two strip clubs about 20 years ago - one as part of a stag party in New Zealand and the other in New York before he moved there to work.
It came after revelations at the weekend that Australian Opposition leader Kevin Rudd had visited a strip club in New York four years ago while on a taxpayer-funded trip.
Mr Key said he would not repeat such visits: "It was a long time ago. I hold a position now which would not warrant that kind of behaviour."
But his openness started the flow of others' strip-club stories - mostly international.
For Labour MP Tim Barnett, it was a gay strip club in London.
"I went with a bishop in his 80s who had always wanted to go to a gay strip club. I was there to make sure the bishop didn't get carried away."
Labour's Dover Samuels and NZ First's Brian Donnelly went many years ago on rugby trips to Australia, National's Wayne Mapp found himself in one in Canada in 1977, and for Labour's Pete Hodgson it was 1984 in Amsterdam with wife in tow and was "boring".
As a younger man, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples went to clubs in Sydney and New York.
Act leader Rodney Hide also recalled visiting some "pretty seedy places" on his travels. "I certainly can remember ladies taking their clothes off, so I suppose they were strip clubs."
Trevor Mallard's last memory of strip-club days was closer to home - The Balcony in Wellington, the "avant garde arts cultural musical centre" - in the early 70s and on the playbill were Ginette McDonald, Bruno Lawrence and Georgina Beyer (later an MP). Not all took their clothes off.
Confessions yesterday came not only from male MPs.
NZ First matron Barbara Stewart went a couple of times "years and years ago ... It was very interesting. There were girls dancing on a pole at various stages of undress. That's about all I can remember. And it was dark."
She added that most people went when they were "young and silly" and she didn't think it was appropriate for MPs.
National's Paula Bennett went on hen nights and Green MP Sue Bradford went to gay strip clubs in Auckland and Wellington when she was young. "It was interesting. Gay male stripping is not necessarily that entertaining for women."
Mr Samuels dragged out the "young days" defence to justify such excursions.
"Young days!" he said of Mr Key's visits and his own visit as "a young fella in Australia, playing rugby".
National's Colin King went as an 18-year-old but he and his friends got kicked out of the Pink Pussycat after being "told to act like adults".
Others went in the course of duty. Chester Borrows, a former policeman, said he had "been to more strip clubs on more occasions than I could think of - never off duty".
Eric Roy also pleaded duty - his pre-MP-days sojourn was part of his chaperon duties escorting a group of women on a trip to Wellington.
Labour's Shane Jones reluctantly conceded he had been, mainly on rugby trips and including Amsterdam.
"Yeah, of course. Five years at boarding school, what do you think?"
National's John Hayes was equally blunt: "I used to work on the Cook Strait ferries. What do you think?"
Others were more pursed-lipped about it. Jim Anderton said he had never been to one, and wasn't likely to.
"There's a lot of bad taste associated with that, in my view."
Labour's David Parker said he'd never been, declaring strip clubs "seedy places" and "not my cup of tea".
Labour's Jill Pettis said she was "a humble girl from the provinces" and had been married for 36 years.
"Why go out for hamburger when you've got steak at home?"
Bob Clarkson said he was "not interested, I'm old" and Harry Duynhoven said he was "too boring".
Labour's Dave Hereora's response was "not yet" and Damien O'Connor said he hadn't, adding: "I've had a sad and lonely life."
Ashraf Choudhary said he was Muslim and didn't go to such places.
Some were more reticent to state their positions. Winston Peters huffed and said: "I'm not wasting my time with this rubbish."
Ross Robertson refused to answer, saying to begin answering such questions would lead to a ballooning of MPs facing personal questions.
National's Maurice Williamson also refused to answer any questions about his personal life.
Opinion was also split on the appropriateness of MPs attending clubs.
- additional reporting: Audrey Young
