KEY POINTS:
What promises to be a fiery exchange between Helen Clark and John Key in Parliament today has got a lot more riding on it than usual.
What is different on this occasion is the pressure is on the Prime Minister to get the better of Key, whereas normally the onus is on Key - as the challenger - to score off Clark.
That is one consequence of Clark's startling admission last Thursday that she had been aware in February that wealthy expatriate Owen Glenn had donated money to Winston Peters but she had felt no need in subsequent months to inform the public or Parliament of that fact.
That was despite Clark knowing that each time Peters denied receiving any donation, her Minister of Foreign Affairs was misinforming the public and digging himself into a hole.
The admission has damaged her because it makes her look like she is complicit in the games that Peters has been playing with the media and the public. It makes her look like she was protecting him.
The failure to disclose what she knew may have been unavoidable for political reasons - she felt she could not interfere in NZ First's private business and had to accept Peters' assurances that he had received no such donations.
But her explanations so far have sounded unconvincing. The suspicion remains that she did nothing because that was the easy option and because she probably presumed the fuss about the Glenn donation would subside. Why risk buying a fight with Peters, her minority Government's support partner, when she did not think she needed to?
Subsequent events have proved she should have pressured Peters into making inquiries about the donation.
In National's view, the Prime Minister in her public statements has been "guilty by omission". To capitalise on Clark inadvertently making herself centre-stage, National is planning a campaign theme focused around secrecy, honesty and trust in politics, starting in Parliament today.
Clark will have to sound more convincing than she has up till now.
This will be one of the last question-times before the House rises for the election. Whoever wins today's tussle will take that psychological advantage into the election campaign.
However, the unfolding saga of the Glenn donation is close to becoming Clark's equivalent of Jenny Shipley's infamous dinner with Saatchi & Saatchi boss Kevin Roberts.
Clark's surprise admission has also given National much delight because the Prime Minister is seen as failing to live up to one of her undoubted strengths. Clark had deftly managed the fallout from Peters' mishandling of news of the Glenn donation. She trod a delicate line between backing Peters and keeping Labour's distance.
But last week she dropped Peters - and herself - right in it .
Under heavy questioning from National, Clark will no doubt throw up some red herrings to divert attention, such as her claim that John Key was tipped off in advance about the Serious Fraud Office's decision to investigate Peters and NZ First.
Clark is also bound to raise Key's evasive responses on TV3 last night to questions about his meeting on Sunday with Lord Ashcroft, the wealthy backer of the British Conservative Party.
One person Clark can rely on coming to her defence - presuming he is in the House - is Winston Peters. Whether that turns out to be a help or hindrance is a moot point.
