Rebel Connell keeps party guessing over House return

Brian Connell

National is not certain whether its rebel MP Brian Connell will turn up to Parliament this week, although the party appears to be indicating he should.

Mr Connell was suspended from National's caucus almost two weeks ago after a secret internal ballot took him by surprise.

Since then it has been unclear whether Mr Connell will opt to keep his head down and try to get back into caucus, or whether he will choose a more spectacular path, such as resigning.

The Rakaia MP did not return a call yesterday, and senior National figures said they did not know whether Mr Connell would be in the House when Parliament resumed tomorrow after a three-week recess.

"I have no idea. That would be my expectation, but I have no knowledge," Nick Smith said.

Deputy leader Gerry Brownlee said "it's up to him", while a spokesman for Dr Brash said that, as far as he knew, Mr Connell had not confirmed whether he would show up. However, he did say that constituents "can probably expect that he would be in the House representing them".

Mr Connell's suspension bars him from attending National's caucus meetings - held on Tuesday mornings - but he is free to continue to sit on the Government administration select committee and to attend the House.

If Mr Connell fails to take his seat in the House tomorrow the move could be seen as an indication he does not intend to stay with National - unless there is an explanation for his absence.

Since the suspension of Mr Connell, National has made it clear that the MP's future is in his own hands.

Mr Connell had earlier indicated that he had come to the conclusion not to resign, but his row with National escalated again after that when the MP threatened to ask the police to investigate claims that Dr Smith obtained his confidential information.