KEY POINTS:
Winston Peters can deny all he likes that he promoted Owen Glenn last year to be New Zealand's honorary consul to Monaco but the evidence from his own ministry says otherwise.
Take this memo from Peter Hamilton, deputy secretary to senior staff in Europe including the ambassador to France, Sarah Dennis, about a conversation he had had with Peters.
"I said [to Peters] our ambassador in France had not yet been able to get to Monaco to meet Mr Glenn but planned to do so. He asked how far Monaco was from Paris, maybe it would be only a day trip? and was clearly annoyed that the issue had not made faster progress. I gather he will be seeing Mr Glenn in Sydney around APEC [it was actually the World Cup in Paris] and may have wanted to say something to him then. Simon Murdoch [head of MFAT] has agreed that we should progress this as fast as possible, and ask you, Sarah, to visit Monaco toute de suite to follow up..."
It is just like a replay of the privileges committee.
Peters can deny all he likes the committee's finding that he knew about the $100,000 donation from Glenn in December 2005 but the evidence - phone records, and email timing and content - said otherwise.
National has its sight more on Clark than Peters and her admission that it was the fact that Owen Glenn told her he had given money to New Zealand First that she put the kibosh on the appointment proceeding.
At that time - in February - Clark asked Peters about the donation but he denied having received any money.
If she had actually believed him why would she have stopped the appointment?
It does suggest that she actually put more credence in Glenn's statement when he told her about the donation rather than Peters when he said it hadn't happened - and her instincts were right.
But it also undermines her excuse for not pursuing the donation-denial harder at the time - because they are both honorable men and there is a conflict of evidence.
Her actions back then speak louder than her words now.
National has been trying to suggest there is no difference between Labour president Mike Williams and Peters promoting Owen Glenn as honorary consul to Monaco after both had benefited from donations.
But the big difference is that Labour's donation was declared. Peters' donation was not and in fact, Peters asked Owen Glenn to keep to it confidential according to Glenn's evidence.
The colourful Glenn, speaking to Sean Plunket this morning on Morning Report, was clearly becoming irritated at the link between the donations to parties and them doing him favours - leading to National Radio broadcasting the "F" word.
Glenn: "Well look. Why don't I take the rumoured billion, divide it up by the number of people, give everybody $250 and put myself on [f...ing] welfare."
The offending word has been removed from the RNZ website.
Glenn was speaking from Fiji where he has a home.
MFAT's paper trail was decidedly cool on Glenn getting the Monaco post.
Ultimately it likes control over NZ's envoys, and the appointment effectively by the minister may have opened up an entirely new front of political appointments.
On the other hand MFAT might just consider Mr Glenn to be the right man in the right place. There is still a vacancy in the top job in Suva.
