Tamihere watches Ps and Qs on radio

John Tamihere

He read out a James K. Baxter poem, he offered advice and he answered questions - including ones about "that" magazine interview - but John Tamihere stayed well clear of the words "smarmy", "front-bum" and "tosser".

Yesterday's much-vaunted debut of Mr Tamihere's talkback show on Radio Live went relatively smoothly for the Labour MP whose mouth has got him into trouble in recent weeks.

And today he will be hoping the smooth track continues when he makes his return to Parliament.

The Tamaki Makaurau MP, who has faced intense scrutiny and censure over his controversial remarks about colleagues and the Holocaust, published in Investigate magazine, says he is raring to go and is looking forward to his parliamentary return.

And, in a change of roles, it will be Mr Tamihere offering a colleague support over an embarrassing indiscretion, rather than the other way around.

Mr Tamihere said he was returning to Wellington a day early to help his friend and Labour colleague Dover Samuels, who has been severely embarrassed after news he had wet his pants in a hotel corridor became public knowledge.

Mr Tamihere will attend the Labour caucus meeting tomorrow and said he was not worried about seeing colleagues he insulted, namely Steve Maharey, whom he called smarmy, and Chris Carter, whom he called a tosser.

Mr Tamihere has been on "stress leave" for the past two weeks following fallout from the Investigate interview.

Mr Tamihere was severely censured by Prime Minister Helen Clark over the interview. Helen Clark said his behaviour in "trashing" his friends and colleagues to a journalist was intolerable.

A Herald-DigiPoll survey found that 38 per cent of people polled believed Mr Tamihere should have been dismissed from the Labour party for his comments. The poll of 800 people, with a margin of error of 3.5 per cent, also found that 65 per cent of people opposed Mr Tamihere's statement that he was sick and tired of hearing about how many Jews got gassed.

Mr Tamihere said he enjoyed his radio show yesterday and believed it had gone well.

But the Opposition were waiting to seize on any slip of the tongue Mr Tamihere made.

National Party deputy leader Gerry Brownlee said Helen Clark would continue to have problems with Mr Tamihere, as he offered no apology for comments about colleagues and the Holocaust.

"Despite two weeks on 'stress' leave to gather his thoughts, it is clear that Mr Tamihere is still refusing to back away from the remarks."