NZ First leader Winston Peters has quashed rumours he is in talks with Brian Tamaki, of Destiny Church.
The rumours were printed in a column in the Listener and republished on the Herald website.
The column has since been taken down.
The first sentence of the column stated: "Brian Tamaki is in merger talks with Winston Peters."
Peters called it a "preposterous lie".
"There have never been any talks between myself and Brian Tamaki and to suggest otherwise is underhanded political dirt."
• The Listener article in question has been removed from nzherald.co.nz.