Gerry Brownlee MP National Party Shadow Leader of the House
2 November 2008
Clark not credible on Williams as 'lone gunman'
National Party Shadow Leader of the House Gerry Brownlee says "Helen Clark's claim this morning that Mike Williams acted
as the lone gunman in Labour's neutron dirt attack" is not credible.
"Her party's president disappeared to Australia in the middle of a busy election campaign and Helen Clark wants New
Zealanders to believe she, as chief strategist, knew nothing about it. That is absurd."
Mr Brownlee is referring to Helen Clark's appearance on the TVNZ Agenda programme today.
"We've heard Helen Clark make the same excuses for Mike Williams before."
In April, Helen Clark was imposing exactly the same rule of silence on Mr Williams. She said on TVNZ's Breakfast: 'Well,
I think it's time for a deep period of silence and concentrating on his core business and, er, just leave the politics
to the politicians'.
"Having been given that clear instruction in April, there's no way that Mr Williams would have launched his own
'crusade' to dig dirt on John Key. Helen Clark knew what he was doing."
Mr Brownlee says her flimsy excuse is seconded only by the one she gave when Mr Williams falsely told the New Zealand
Herald that Owen Glenn hadn't given any money to Labour since the 2005 election.
"Helen Clark claimed that she never read the country's largest newspaper on the day that Mr Glenn's controversial gong
was made public, so she never publicly corrected, and never saw the untruth.
"That too, is difficult to accept.
"New Zealanders know that Labour's been too distracted by the side-shows and they've failed to focus on the things that
matter. It's time for a fresh approach."
ENDS