Tamihere to face party chief

Prime Minister Helen Clark comes under media fire over John Tamihere at Parliament yesterday. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Disgraced Labour MP John Tamihere and Labour Party president Mike Williams plan to meet in Auckland today to discuss how he will pave his way back into a caucus from which he has alienated himself.

It is understood the MP plans to apologise to his colleagues for attacking them in a magazine article but this may be done in private, with no grand public gesture.

Mr Williams wants to meet Mr Tamihere before the president goes to Australia tomorrow.

Mr Tamihere's critical views of his colleagues appeared in Investigate magazine after a lunch with editor Ian Wishart. The pair dispute whether the conversation was on or off the record.

Mr Tamihere's antipathy to the union movement and the gay community was no surprise to his colleagues, nor his aversion to colleagues Steve Maharey, whom he described as "smarmy", and Chris Carter, labelled a "tosser".

But this public airing has been highly embarrassing for Labour.

Of more lasting damage are the statements that the party is run by anti-men, anti-family feminists and that Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen uses his cunning to dupe parties supporting the minority Government on pieces of legislation.

An early apology to Dr Cullen, who championed Mr Tamihere through the Waipareira Trust mismanagement scandal which led to his standing down from the Cabinet, may be on the cards.

Dr Cullen joined a chorus of senior MPs yesterday calling for an apology. They included Foreign Minister Phil Goff and Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia.

Dr Cullen said Mr Tamihere's comments were meant to be flattering but they were not.

"We wouldn't survive without Cullen," Mr Tamihere was quoted as saying. "He can cut a deal on a piece of legislation, he can change a single word in a piece of legislation without those other bastards [coalition partners] knowing about it."

Prime Minister Helen Clark put even more distance between Mr Tamihere and his return to the Cabinet when she answered questions in the House.

"In the past I have expressed my confidence that Mr Tamihere would return to Cabinet at some point. I am unable to say that today.

"To return in the future he would have to rebuild the confidence of his colleagues, and clearly he has a lot of work to do."

The article has given the Opposition rich material with which to ridicule Labour but any humour turned sour when Act Party leader Rodney Hide chose to use a quote from the Tamihere interview that highlighted the fact that Helen Clark did not have children.

Mr Tamihere was not in the House because he has been advised to take a week off to reflect on his future.

Sources say he has no intention of resigning from Labour or Parliament - and even if it were a remote possibility, a byelection would be avoided by the Prime Minister setting a general election date.

Mr Tamihere expressed regret for the article on his weekly Newstalk ZB slot yesterday, saying: "I made an error of judgment in ... kicking the ball around with a bloke at a lunch, end of story. And I've got a lot of work to do on that ... but politics is a very tough, brutal game."

Mr Tamihere stood down from the Cabinet last year while the Serious Fraud Office made inquiries into allegations of mismanagement by the Waipareira Trust, of which he was formerly chief executive.

Yesterday, he praised Labour and its leadership.

"I'll always back Clark and Cullen as a consequence of them being there through the hard years."

That appeared to please the Prime Minister, but she said the ball was in Mr Tamihere's court.

"I note this morning he said he's with the Labour Party, he backs the leadership, and that sounds to me like someone who wants a dialogue."

The Prime Minister, meanwhile, dismissed a Press report from Christchurch that Police Minister George Hawkins had thought of resigning last week because of the pressure he has been under in the House over regular 111 emergency call scandals.

"We speak often. He will be looking beyond the election. He will be anticipating the very good chances of a return of the Labour-led Government and he will be thinking about what role he might play in that," she said.

Asked if there was any prospect of Mr Hawkins standing aside as police minister before the election, she said: "I haven't discussed that with him."

Mr Hawkins said resignation had not been suggested by himself, the Prime Minister or anyone else.

"I've got the confidence of the Prime Minister and she said so twice in the House today.

"I intend to be the member of Parliament for Manurewa after the election and probably another term after that."

Crime was down, police numbers and funding were up, he said.

People had been predicting his demise since he entered local body politics in Papakura 25 years ago.

Helen Clark has hinted - and his low list placement of 25 confirmed - that he will not be in the next Cabinet if Labour is returned.

One of the reasons Mr Tamihere feels bitter towards Labour is its treatment of Mr Hawkins, who withdrew from the list just two days before the lunch with Mr Wishart.

Mr Hawkins would not discuss Mr Tamihere. "John's a mate, John's a colleague; I don't talk to the media about my mates, I don't talk to the media about my colleagues. I find that is the wise thing to do."

He said he had always been reluctant to go on the list, and had done so only at the last election when all ministers had been asked to.

Regarding the 111 cases, Mr Hawkins said the public and the media needed to understand that operational and management matters were the responsibility of the Police Commissioner. "In countries where the Minister of Police gets involved, that's where corruption starts."

- additional reporting: Jon Stokes and Louisa Cleave