Alliance together, but miles apart

By AUDREY YOUNG

The two factions of the Alliance have reached a deal to co-exist in the same Parliament until the election, but they can barely disguise their contempt for each other.

Asked what the difference was between Mr Anderton and Alliance defector Alamein Kopu, who crossed to National, Laila Harre said: "Jim Anderton is in Parliament and Alamein Kopu isn't in Parliament."

She also shifted seats away from Mr Anderton in Parliament, to a spot closer to her two loyalists, Willie Jackson and Liz Gordon.

Mr Anderton yesterday faced a sustained attack as a party-hopper for his plans to set up a rival party but remain Alliance leader until the election.

Prime Minister Helen Clark defended her Deputy Prime Minister, saying he was not party-hopping because he was not leaving the Alliance; he was staying in it.

But National leader Bill English said the pair were involved in an arrangement intended to deceive Parliament.

The Alliance council is expected to terminate Mr Anderton's membership at a meeting in Auckland this weekend and elect Laila Harre interim leader until the conference.

The pair met their respective factions separately yesterday to seek backing for the agreement. The Harre faction agreed to be photographed. The Anderton faction did not.

Mr Anderton and the six MPs loyal to him, and Laila Harre and her two, have agreed to split the party's $848,000 parliamentary funding 60:40.

Laila Harre has agreed not to publicly lay claim to the parliamentary leadership of the Alliance or legally challenge Mr Anderton's leadership.

She said she and Mr Anderton wanted to keep public disagreement to a minimum. Speaking rights would be dealt with issue by issue and the caucus, which constitutionally includes six members as well as the 10 MPs, would no longer meet.

They have agreed they do not want Parliament's Speaker of the Parliamentary Service Commission to become involved in sorting out their problems.

Mr Anderton yesterday faced a barrage of accusations about party-hopping from a hostile Opposition, including a "waka jumper" swipe from Mr Jackson.

But Mr Anderton said he was relieved about the split and agreed that he had got on better with the party leftists since the split.

He was not a waka jumper in the way Alamein Kopu had been because he was not switching sides. But his waka had been "leaking very badly and was rapidly sinking".

Mr English sought to spread the damage from Mr Anderton to Helen Clark, saying she had previously called party-hoppers "despicable" and "venal".

"It is wrong to campaign for electoral integrity and then agree to arrangements that are a farce.

The Prime Minister is compromising the integrity of Parliament more deeply than I have ever seen.

"She will be party to an arrangement that is designed to deceive the Parliament," Mr English said. "Jim Anderton will be campaigning against the Alliance under a different name from that he is sitting in here under.

"We believe that Parliament will look stupid if it accommodates that arrangement."