What Trevor Mallard Said

Trevor Mallard is backtracking on his remarks from last year. Not the remarks he made at 'that' press conference but the remarks he made at the Eastbourne meet the candidates evening.

At the meeting he was challenged to give evidence to back up his earlier claims of National Party policy being written in Washington - he conceded that he had been wrong to make that statement, and that he had got a "talking to" from the Prime Minister about his comments.

And from reading the email contents tabled in Parliament today there is nothing to substatiate the claim - Don Brash is simply saying that two American electoral campaigners want to work for the National Party at the election, but that he doubts their worth and ability in a different environment. Any attempt to take that statment and say National is an American Republican Party Puppet is like taking two, adding two and getting forty-seven.

And seeing what the Government would rather talk about is it just co-incidence that this email comes out the same week a Government report wiping $1.7 Billion of value of Telecom is leaked, and the Taito Philip Field enquiry is concluded?