KEY POINTS:
Don Brash's former chief of staff Richard Long described him as a gaffe-prone Mr Magoo -- a near-blind cartoon character who blunders from one disaster to the next.
Some Dr Brash's political pratfalls:
* Says he went easy on political rival Helen Clark in a television debate because she's a woman.
* Tells a United States delegation a National government would get rid of New Zealand's iconic ban on nuclear powered ships by "lunchtime".
* Holds a press conference on leaked National emails without proper knowledge of their contents -- or even taking a copy of the emails with him.
* Later in the same week allows himself to be photographed symbolically walking a plank.
* Is photographed trying to awkwardly clamber into a stockcar -- despite questions having been asked about whether he is too old to be prime minister.
* Denies any knowledge of the Exclusive Brethren's anti-Labour and anti-Green election pamphlets but later admits he met with them both before and after the election. Some of his senior MPs say the "whiff of association" with the Brethren hurt National's chances of winning the election.
* Sparks post-election leadership debate himself by making confusing statements over whether he wants to stay on as leader of the National Party.
* Attacks the Labour Party in areas where he is himself vulnerable, such as the sanctity of marriage despite his having admitted to having an affair and not denying another.
* After being attacked by one of his MPs at a caucus meeting over his fitness to lead the party given rumours about his personal life, he confirms the troubles and sparks a media hunt by issuing a statement that his marriage is in difficulty.
* Upsets Maori by questioning whether Maori remained a distinct indigenous people given there were "few, if any, fully Maori" left.
* Gets an interim injunction preventing the publication of emails he said were stolen from his personal computer. That stops Nicky Hager's book from being published, but makes it look like he has something to hide, so he does a U-turn to let the book be published.
- NZPA
