KEY POINTS:
National Party leader John Key says the latest revelations about Winston Peters and Owen Glenn are "as smelly as a seven-day-old snapper", and the saga is dragging the Government down.
Official documents released on Tuesday showed an email trail in which then-Foreign Minister Mr Peters pushed the Foreign Affairs Ministry to have Mr Glenn appointed honorary consul in Monaco.
The expatriate billionaire gave Mr Peters' New Zealand First party a $100,000 donation, but both men have said there was no connection between that and the consular job.
Mr Glenn was not appointed because the ministry decided a consul was not needed in Monaco.
Mr Peters said yesterday that he only ever asked the ministry to investigate the merit of appointing an honorary consul in Monaco and did not push for any particular person to be appointed.
However, emails between ministry officials say Mr Peters wanted to appoint Mr Glenn and asked why the process was taking so long.
Mr Key said the documents contradicted everything Mr Peters and Prime Minister Helen Clark had said about the issue.
He said it had been a soap opera running since last year and it was time for New Zealand to have a fresh start.
"If we're going to have another three years of Winston Peters scandals and various affairs he involves himself in, then I just think it's going to hold us back at a time when we need to be focused on economic growth and law and order issues."
Helen Clark was asked about the documents yesterday but said it was up to Mr Peters to answer questions.
Mr Peters is insisting he did nothing wrong and that correct procedure was followed at all times.
He has said Mr Glenn first expressed an interest in the position in 2002 and that he "inherited" the situation when he became minister.
Mr Glenn told NewstalkZB yesterday that he initially told Labour Party president Mike Williams he would like to be honorary consul in Monaco because New Zealand was not represented.
The suggestion was passed to the Prime Minister and Mr Glenn said he was then told by Mr Williams that there was no objection but that the decision lay with Mr Peters as Foreign Minister.
Mr Glenn said Mr Peters "favoured the idea" when he met him in Paris.
He later gave $100,000 to Mr Peters but said there was no connection between that donation and the honorary consul's position.
- NZPA
