KEY POINTS:
It does not yet qualify as a full-blown scandal. It is still some way off being a full-scale crisis. But the overwhelming feeling around Parliament yesterday was of things teetering on the brink, that Winston Peters - for all his formidable survival instincts - risks drowning in the
sheer volume of allegations and unanswered questions now raining down on him.
In his absence - he is in Singapore - the Prime Minister is doing her level best to help him while carefully quarantining Labour from suffering collateral damage through its association with NZ First as her Government's support partner.
But much more of this and Peters may yet have to step down as a minister and relinquish his Foreign Affairs portfolio.
It may not come to that. The Prime Minister will willingly soak up a lot more taunts from National about her protecting Peters before reluctantly cutting him loose.
Nevertheless, the rapid turn of events had questions being asked of her yesterday as to whether Peters can viably carry on as Foreign Minister given the serious nature of the allegations against him and with his credibility simultaneously melting at such a horrific rate.
The mood was reflected in Parliament, which was eerily quiet - always a sign that things are getting very tense - as National and Act MP Rodney Hide peppered Clark with the unanswered questions surrounding the $100,000 donation from wealthy expatriate Owen Glenn and whether Peters had breached disclosure rules covering MPs and ministers.
If that was not enough, there were further shockwaves with yesterday's Dominion Post making fresh allegations surrounding NZ First's handling of donations, questions about whether the racing industry source of those donations has compromised Peters as Minister of Racing and claims that taxpayers paid his lawyer's legal bills through Parliamentary Service funding.
Those allegations were largely unsubstantiated, making it fairly easy for someone with Clark's experience to bat away the resulting questions. She may have only brief respite, however. The confidence with which the newspaper made the claims suggests it has the documentation to back them up - with maybe more to come.
Peters dismissed the article as "a smear campaign of unsubstantiated allegations". But Clark realises, even if Peters won't, that such responses are no longer satisfactory given the seriousness of the allegations he is facing.
He can keep digging himself into a bigger hole. Clark cannot afford to watch him dig one for Labour as well.
She urgently needs to move this dreadful mess off centre-stage - both for her sake and Peters'. She has accordingly dropped big hints to relevant Government agencies to investigate the claims if they see fit.
Those agencies are an ever-lengthening list - Auditor-General Kevin Brady; the Registrar of MPs' Pecuniary Interests, Dame Margaret Bazley; the Electoral Commission; Inland Revenue; Parliament's Speaker and privileges committee; the Cabinet Office; and even - as Clark mentioned - the police.
While Peters is unlikely to be happy being the subject of such probes, he can hardly complain, having often called for other individuals and organisations to be given the same treatment.
The upside for him and Clark is that any fresh allegations can be met with the response that inquiries are already under way and they should be referred to investigators accordingly. It effectively dowses things.
The downside is that the more Government agencies investigating Peters and his party, the bigger the cloud that will be hanging over him and NZ First both before and possibly throughout the coming election campaign.
However, if he wants to remain Foreign Minister in the interim, he has little choice but to accede to the Prime Minister's rescue strategy. She is the one now calling the shots.
