Gerry Brownlee MP
National Party Shadow Leader of the House

30 October 2008

Clark donkey deep in smear campaign

National Party Shadow Leader of the House Gerry Brownlee says it defies belief that Labour's self-appointed chief strategist, Helen Clark, did not know what Mike Williams was up to in Australia.

"Mike Williams is the president of the party. He vanished in the middle of an election campaign and Helen Clark wants us to believe she didn't know why. That is simply not credible.

"Of course Helen Clark knew what her friend and long-time president was up to. This is the man she shares texts with several times a day. This is desperate stuff."

Mr Brownlee says Helen Clark should come clean about her involvement in the organised smear and answer questions about the resources devoted to the dirt campaign on John Key.

"Did the research unit go? Who paid? How is the Standard website involved?"

Mr Brownlee says the smear was an obvious attempt to deflect attention away from Helen Clark's problems with her stood-down Minister, Winston Peters.

"The Peters problem didn't happen 20 years ago, it happened in February this year.

"Helen Clark should release the Foreign Affairs note or memo which proves her claim that she intervened in Winston Peters' attempts to appoint Owen Glenn as honorary consul.

"If Helen Clark did intervene in the way she claims, Foreign Affairs will have some record of that.

"She should also say why she didn't reveal this intervention until the damning trail of official emails was produced this week. This was obviously a material part of the story and she kept it to herself.

"This is just more proof that when Mr Peters held up his 'NO' sign Helen Clark knew the answer was really yes."

ENDS

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