KEY POINTS:
The book containing Don Brash's emails may not be available until next week.
Outgoing National leader Don Brash believed he had come up with a solution that could see investigative author Nicky Hager's book The Hollow Men released.
The book, subtitled "A Study in the Politics of Deception",
is covered by an injunction Dr Brash won last week banning the use of his private emails - some of which feature in the book.
Billed as an expose of the National Party's inner workings, the book claims the party broke election spending laws and Dr Brash misled the public about the party's links to the Exclusive Brethren and American neo-conservatives.
After two days of legal wranglings, Dr Brash said his lawyers had come up with a solution for the book's release.
It involved giving Hager copies of the emails he had used so they were not deemed stolen and were not covered by the injunction.
But it now appears that the injunction cannot be circumvented that simply because Dr Brash does not have the authority to hand over emails that he did not write.
The matter will now go to court next week.
Mr Hager said this afternoon: "Books were ready to go out to book shops tomorrow. They were all boxed and waiting for the courier and now it's on hold until we don't know when. It might be released tomorrow, it might released sometime next week."
Hager believed National did intend to find a solution and that would be quicker than using courts to try have the injunction lifted.
Today announcing his resignation Dr Brash said it had nothing to do with the book.
"I really thought it was a politician's answer," Hager said.
"It's pretty hard to believe this was unrelated to the book and my own opinion is that it was partly Don Brash leaving and it was partly other people pushing him."
Other people in National would not look good when the book finally made it into shops.
"I suspect they are hoping that by dumping Don Brash they will somehow save their own skins and avoid attention."
Hager believed Dr Brash would have had to quit immediately on the book's release.
"Even in the last few days he's continued to say things about his links with the Brethren which are totally and decisively contradicted by the documentary evidence in the book."
National MPs will also be keen to get their hands on the book as soon as possible to see if any potential leadership contenders are terminally damaged by its contents.
Dr Brash reiterated he had no knowledge of Hager's book when he sought an injunction and it was not behind his resignation.
He said Hager had a "conspiracy view of the world" and he "utterly rejected" the book's claims which sounded like "total garbage".
"That the National Party is in some way beholden or linked or in cahoots with the neo-conservatives in the United States is absolute crap, that we've got funding from the Exclusive Brethren is absolute crap, that we broke election spending rules is absolute crap."
Dr Brash reiterated he was not aware of the Exclusive Brethren's planned anti-Labour and Green campaign before August last year, but he did know about an Exclusive Brethren-commissioned advertisement calling for a lift in defence spending early last year.
He said regretted he could not protect the identities of the people who had emailed him and Hager's decision to publish without obtaining their permission was "totally reprehensible".
He was not yet sure whether he would have to hand Hager the emails or whether merely giving permission for their use would be enough.
"That's for the lawyers to work out."
Hager believes his book could damage many of Dr Brash's inner circle including leadership frontrunner John Key, who Hager said knew about the Brethren's campaign, despite his denials.
Most National MPs spoken to by NZPA have said they are waiting to see what Hager had come up with and whether the facts matched the rhetoric.
Mr Key has said Hager was wrong. He had only limited contact with the sect and did not know about its campaigning.
Hager has said the book includes:
* The political strategies behind Dr Brash's 2004 Orewa race-relations speech;
* National's links to American neo-conservatives and their input into the party's election campaign;
* Hidden links with industry groups that helped write policy speeches;
* National's big donors and their relations with the party;
* Election strategies and techniques advised by Australian strategy consultants Crosby/Textor;
* A range of possible breaches of election finance laws and parliamentary spending rules.
- NZPA
