MPs looking for strong speech from English after upheavals of past week

MPs in particular are looking for a strong performance by Prime Minister Bill English today. Photo / Andrew Warner

The Todd Barclay debacle was not directly addressed at the National Party conference in Wellington yesterday and nor will it be in this morning's keynote speech by Prime Minister Bill English.

English is expected to avoid any mention of Barclay, who was forced to resign from politics after English released an old police statement which said Barclay told him he had taped his electorate agent's phone conversations.

Nor is English expected to mention the chaos surrounding Labour's intern scheme for foreign activists to campaign for it.

The speech is designed to establish the direction of National's election campaign - and won't contain any policy announcements. More of those will appear on the campaign.

It is understood it will seek to contrast what it sees as National's outward-looking drive for greater growth and Labour's call for a "breather" - the word it used in its immigration policy.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is continuing his pitch for the regional vote by launching a regional campaign today in Palmerston North.

MPs in particular are looking for a strong performance by English today after the week of trauma in which his own credibility was questioned.

If he was shaken by the events of the past week, he hasn't shown it.

"If you needed a reminder about how challenging the next three months are going to be then this last week, you had it," he said in brief opening remarks.

"We will be tested on all aspects of our organisation, of our policy and of our behaviour.
"And if we pass those tests, then we will deserve to win."

He repeatedly told The Nation yesterday that "the fact of a recording has never actually been established."

It was a line he used occasionally in the past week but given that Barclay admitted he had done it and that his agent's employment settlement was larger because of the privacy breach it was an unusual line for English to take.

Deputy leader Paula Bennett was one of several speakers to talk up English's leadership at the conference and to stress that he was enjoying the job.

In reference to the Barclay affair she said: "We've taken some bumps along the way. We've been knocked down and we've always got back up and I don't think the last week was a fatal blow.

"In fact it feels like it was barely a tap."

She also admitted to have a "political crush" on English.

"He is just a man admire so greatly and every time I see him working," she said.

"I have worked so closely with him for such a long period of time and watching him thrive as the Prime Minister of this country and enjoy it as much as he does and actually work hard for New Zealanders is a buzz that I can't help sharing."