What happened on December 14, 2005?

NB: BBC story on Winston Peters here

The Greens got its ETS bill passed under urgency, not because the Government wanted other bills passed before recess, but in case Winston Peters gets sacked today. He may. He should. He provided no evidence to the privileges committee last night that convincingly rebutted Owen Glenn's statements.

I think the whole thing comes down to one date. December 14, 2005. On that date Owen Glenn called Winston Peters. Owen Glenn says he talked money, Winston Peters said he didn't talk money, but about Glenn wanting "a roving ambassadorship with emphasis on trade... similar to Mike Moore".

Do you believe that?

Shortly after, Peters' lawyer Brian Henry's bank account was sent to Owen Glenn, on "behalf of my client". If Brian Henry can't name that client as someone other than Winston Peters, Helen Clark has no reason not to sack Winston Peters. But because Henry hasn't provided those details, despite being asked, and neither has Peters, we'll have to wait until Tuesday when Henry gets called before the committee again.

But Henry won't state that information as nobody can prove it either way. But this mess has caused so much damage to the Government that Michael Cullen - who is on the privileges committee - should not wait til Tuesday but recommend that Helen Clark should really sack Winston Peters today.

But she won't sack him today. Or tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after, etc.

Update I've just seen this on Stuff. Key issues remain unresolved. Hence no sacking. Helen Clark is using due process to avoid sacking Winston Peters -which is, I suspect, was the only reason Margaret Wilson decided that he should go the the privileges committee to start with - and Wilson delayed that decision so that due process would last beyond the ETS legislation.

Update 2 Here's the PMs Press statement. The refusal to sack Winston Peters has been reported as far away as France and Thailand as well as Austria.