KEY POINTS:
The second newspaper broadside in a week from former Labour Prime Minister Mike Moore against his parliamentary colleagues has been met with varying degrees of dismissal.
Prime Minister Helen Clark is assiduously maintaining a "no engagement" stance.
President Mike Williams insists the whole thing is simply hilarious.
And ambitious Cabinet minister Phil Goff again pledged his support for Helen Clark, joking that he hasn't called Mr Moore about his columns because it would only start rumours.
Mr Moore's column yesterday was printed in the Herald and the Press. It followed one published in the Herald last week in which he said compared Helen Clark to Sir Robert Muldoon.
Yesterday's column hit back at the criticism heaped on him since last week's effort and he was particularly critical of Jim Anderton, whom he described as the "designated driver" in the attack plan and whom most people thought was dead.
Suggestions that his agenda last week had been to promote Mr Goff as leader were "pure Nixon".
He did not directly criticise Helen Clark but said he got upset "when the leadership sneer and darkly mention my tax status".
He said Helen Clark and deputy leader Michael Cullen had both acknowledged they would have lost their seats if Mr Moore hadn't taken over the leadership in 1990.
Helen Clark concluded that his reference yesterday to having had a "Nixonian" response to his column last week could not have been referring to her "because I haven't made a response and I don't have a response to make today".
Mr Williams, on his way to the Labour caucus yesterday, said: "I hate to admit it but I am actually thoroughly enjoying it."
He particularly liked a crack by Mr Anderton about the books Mr Moore had written and how many children would have enjoyed colouring them in.
But it was not enough to warrant any form of disciplinary action.
When asked yesterday if he had contacted Mr Moore, Mr Goff joked that "that could lead to rumours".
He said Helen Clark had the unanimous support of the caucus "and has had from day one".
- additional reporting NZPA
