Off-balance Brash admits his error

National leader Don Brash will attend his party's 70th birthday celebrations tonight, but the black tie event will be clouded by renewed questions about his leadership.

Dr Brash admitted yesterday that aspects of his handling of a press conference called to defuse attacks on his credibility by New Zealand First and Labour were "negligent".

He made the concession at Wellington's waterfront when he visited the biodiesel powerboat Earthrace and its crew, who invited him to walk across a wooden plank onto the boat.

Given the preceding day's events, it was a photo opportunity which caused some trepidation among his accompanying party.

The National caucus refused to speak about the matter, asserting that all was business as usual.

But the nightmarish press conference, where Dr Brash forgot the contents of an email it had been called to discuss, will have caused further unease about his leadership.

It was the subject of Government and NZ First taunts in Parliament.

The email, written by Dr Brash and leaked to NZ First leader Winston Peters, was used to claim that National's leader had misled the public last year when he dismissed claims of American involvement in the party's campaign.

In it Dr Brash asked senior colleagues about employing two US strategists he met at a lunch through US billionaire Julian Robertson.

Labour MP Trevor Mallard accused Dr Brash of lying, saying he had denied ever meeting any American involved in his campaign.

Dr Brash finally clarified the situation, saying two different Americans had worked on the campaign and he had not met them when he made the statement flourished by Mr Mallard.

Mr Peters yesterday released what he said was a second 2004 email, which National said was an attachment to the first one he released.

It was from the strategists Dr Brash met at lunch - Sam Van Voorhis and Curt Anderson - proposing to work for National and "make suggestions about the way to run your campaign".

Mr Van Voorhis worked for Republican campaign management company Majority Strategies Inc, and was subject to a grand jury investigation for overcharging the Republican House caucus, according to the US Centre for Public Integrity website.

Mr Peters said the email refuted Dr Brash's claimed "lack of knowledge and association with outside strategists. None of that is wrong, none of that's untoward, whether it's from Chile, outer Mongolia, the UK or the United States. What's wrong is when he denies it".

Mr Mallard said Dr Brash had either deliberately lied or he was "incompetent".

National retaliated, accusing Mr Peters and the Government of jeopardising NZ-US relations, a claim effectively endorsed by US Ambassador William McCormack.

The ambassador is understood to be concerned that MPs may be upsetting stepped-up attempts to improve the relationship by generating erroneous perceptions about attempted American interference in national politics.

"When things shake out later on and they find out we didn't do what was suspected of us... the stain still remains," Mr McCormack warned yesterday.

National deputy leader Gerry Brownlee also hit back, claiming the "only American bagman involved in the 2005 election campaign" was NZ First's campaign chairman - American John Foote - "who admitted he was in receipt of funds from the US".

Mr Peters said Mr Foote was a New Zealand citizen and rejected the funding claims.