Editorial: Sorry Dalziel affair reflects badly on PM

If A week is a long time in politics, last Friday must have been the longest day of Lianne Dalziel's life. It began with her holding both her portfolios and the confidence of the Prime Minister after what Helen Clark later called a "line-ball decision" and ended with a forced resignation and the realisation that the Christchurch East MP had created a major headache for the Labour Government.

The Prime Minister, by her ill-founded decision on Thursday to keep the Immigration Minister in the fold, sent a message to the public that it was permissible for her Cabinet to mislead the public so long as it did not involve deliberate untruth. That message remains undiluted by her actions on Friday evening when she made it obvious - although the footwork around the point was dainty - that her minister had lied. The electorate is left with the impression that the tipping point between integrity and ignominy still lies some distance along the path to dishonesty.

It is a poor showing for a Prime Minister who has put such store by high standards of personal behaviour and who enjoys - a silly episode over a painting notwithstanding - a good reputation in that regard. Her demeanour at the press conference in which she announced Ms Dalziel's resignation showed not only that she had been let down but that she knew she had fallen short of her own standards. In a word: she was gutted.

Perhaps she had been persuaded not to follow her own political instincts on Thursday when she gave her minister the benefit of the doubt. Or perhaps those instincts have been blunted by the realisation that, for the first time, the Clark ministry does not enjoy overwhelming public favour. Is National leader Don Brash beginning to rattle her?

Whatever the reason, she - aided by her deputy, Michael Cullen - made the wrong call. And she made it because the lines on her political court had been painted too wide. It was obvious by Thursday that Lianne Dalziel's ball was out. Herald political correspondent John Armstrong wrote then: "Lianne Dalziel is already seriously overdrawn at the Bank of Credibility. For that reason - to borrow Justice Laurie Greig's reference to Mr Zaoui - she should be outski." It seemed everyone knew she had crossed the line. Everyone, that is, except her leader and deputy leader who saw some politically self-serving distinction between misleading and lying.

It is not unknown for politicians to be economic with the truth and it would be naive to think that such behaviour was not stock-in-trade for a group whose fortunes depend to some degree on putting the best (or worst) face on things. There is a world of difference between spin doctoring and deliberate deception to cover one's tracks. At the very least, Labour has to redefine the test it uses to keep its MPs on the right side of the line. And when a member crosses it, the consequences must be unequivocal: the umpire says "out".

For Labour, however, there are more immediate issues. The match is not over. Indeed, we may be only at the end of the first set. Still to come is the inquiry by State Services Commissioner Michael Wintringham into the manner in which correspondence from the lawyer for a Sri Lankan deportee came into Ms Dalziel's possession.

There seems no doubt that it passed through the Prime Minister's Mt Albert electorate office, although she has disavowed any personal knowledge. She has indicated that Mr Wintringham will be free to investigate the office's role. She should also make herself available for questioning by the commissioner for it is now vital that the Prime Minister is not only above suspicion in the affair but is seen to be so.

He will, no doubt, be subjecting Ms Dalziel's former department to the utmost scrutiny. Given that this is the department that only last year was investigated over the "lie in unison" email, he may have some trouble getting at the truth. On the plus side, Mr Wintringham will be better placed to find the truth than an internal investigation might reveal. The service has a shabby record of self-scrutiny. If his inquiries reveal wrongdoing, more heads than that of Ms Dalziel should roll. And if the Prime Minister hopes to rescue anything from this sorry affair, she will insist on it.