Tamihere weighs future

John Tamihere. Picture / Chris Skelton

A "gutted" John Tamihere was weighing up his future last night after the Prime Minister effectively suspended him indefinitely from the Labour caucus.

Helen Clark ordered Mr Tamihere to take extended leave after remarks he made about the Holocaust - that he was sick of being made to feel guilty over the gassing of Jews - were published.

A close friend of Mr Tamihere told the Herald the MP was gutted and was discussing his political future.

Mr Tamihere will not attend tomorrow's caucus meeting where he was to have apologised to the numerous colleagues he offended in the controversial Investigate magazine interview.

It was unclear last night what would happen to Mr Tamihere or how long he would be on leave, but there was some speculation that this could be the end of his political career.

Last night on National Radio the Prime Minister appeared to rule out any prospect of the MP returning to the Cabinet and indicated he should consider his options in light of that.

Earlier Helen Clark was involved in high-level talks over Mr Tamihere's future.

The Holocaust comments were the final straw after the party spent a week dealing with the political damage inflicted by the magazine interview, in which Mr Tamihere used the words "queer", "tosser" and "smarmy" to describe some of his Labour colleagues. He also said the party was too anti-men, anti-family and too heavily influenced by gays and unionists.

The Herald was told that the Holocaust comments had come as a shock as the Labour caucus had believed they had heard the worst of Mr Tamihere's remarks.

Putting him on extended leave will not affect the Labour-Progressive coalition's majority in Parliament, as Labour can still cast his vote.

A resignation before the election would not necessarily force a byelection. Under electoral law this could be avoided if a 75 per cent majority of MPs did not want one, but Helen Clark would be required to name the election date.

The Prime Minister said the statements Mr Tamihere made in the Investigate interview were deeply offensive to New Zealanders.

The Labour Party believed the Holocaust was genocide and one of the most repugnant and ferocious events of human history.

"The pain caused to the Jewish community and to others who suffered in the Holocaust by these thoughtless comments is acknowledged and deeply regretted by the Labour Party," she said.

Mr Tamihere's latest comments were also made during the Investigate interview but editor Ian Wishart released them only at the weekend.

The Herald on Sunday also reported that Mr Tamihere had said his fellow Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove ran a "nasty, naughty" campaign of crank calls to Helen Clark and her husband, Peter Davis, when he worked for former Labour leader Mike Moore, and that was why Mr Cosgrove was "getting nowhere" in the Clark Government.

Mr Cosgrove, who has been one of Mr Tamihere's most loyal supporters, said the comments were grossly untrue and pure fantasy.

The Sunday Star-Times also ran further quotes from Investigate where Mr Tamihere used the term "front-bums" to describe women.

Wishart said he would not be publishing any further comments from the 70-minute interview as all the information was now "on the table".

National leader Don Brash said Mr Tamihere must apologise for his Holocaust comments.

Mr Tamihere offered to resign last Monday when the Investigate interview was published, but Helen Clark instead told him to take a week's leave.

- additional reporting Jon Stokes