Chris Carter to kiss and tell

Chris Carter is moving to spill the beans on his time with the Helen Clark government. Photo / Janna Dixon

Outspoken MP Chris Carter is writing a "kiss and tell" book about Labour's nine years in power.

The autobiography is to be in bookshops next year just as the election campaign begins.

It will be the first book written by a former Cabinet minister of the nine years Labour led the country.

Carter's evolution as a rogue MP follows his public damning of Labour leader Phil Goff's chances of winning the 2011 election. The attack on Goff began anonymously two months ago but quickly became public.

The party retaliated by sacking Carter from its parliamentary grouping - making the Labour Party stalwart an independent MP. A meeting currently being planned is likely to lead to Carter being suspended or expelled from the party.

Goff said he was aware of the book and was not concerned.

"I don't have any skeletons in my closet," he said.

Labour Party president Andrew Little said he had been told the final chapter would be called "Man Overboard".

"I don't think we can be distracted by kiss-and-tell - or kick-and-tell - books. He can write what he likes," said Little.

Otago University lecturer Bryce Edwards said a book by Carter would have difficulty exposing too many Labour secrets because of his friendship with former leader and Prime Minister Helen Clark.

"He will know where the bodies are buried - but every body will have the DNA of Helen Clark on it."

Carter said he was writing the book after meeting with publishers. He said a contract had not yet been signed but he was enthusiastic about the project.

The Herald on Sunday has learned Random House is the publisher - and that the deal was discussed after involvement from author and outgoing Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey.

Carter said "should Goff and I be reconciled - unlikely but possible - then the book will have to wait until I retire".

Carter's party involvement from 1999-2008 could give a critical insight into the running of the government and its secrets. Not only was he the first openly gay man appointed as a Cabinet minister, he was chief whip and a close friend and confidante of Clark.

The news came as the Labour Party's Te Atatu branch prepared to confirm Carter as its candidate for the election - handing party leadership a headache as the national board prepares to kick him out for good.

Carter said the local electorate committee was "totally supportive" of him and had passed a resolution that it wanted him as the candidate for Te Atatu, posing a likely tricky situation with head office party brass.

The final day for nominations is on Friday and no other candidates have emerged.

Carter said the committee had encouraged him this month to attempt a "negotiated settlement" with Goff. He met with the Labour Party northern representative Robert Gallagher and outlined a situation in which "we would both pledge ourselves to working together for a Labour victory".

He said he did not hear from Goff or party president Andrew Little. "The response I had was that Phil could not move ... that he had locked himself into a corner."

Carter said a casualty of the friction with Labour was his partner Peter Kaiser's standing down as chair of the local electorate committee because he felt "compromised".

Carter said he "had not considered" running as an independent even though encouraged by supporters to do so.

Herald on Sunday inquiries last week found strong support for Carter in his Te Atatu base and across Auckland. Local party workers and Labour voters in Te Atatu - and on other local electorate committees - backed Carter as a Labour member.

Labour life member John Carbutt said "there's a lot of support for Chris - and a lot of sorrow".