Former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig has lodged defamation proceedings against the party's former chairman, 44 days after threatening to do so within 48 hours.
Colin Craig during the press conference announcing his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party. Photo: RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
John Stringer, who resigned as the party's chair in July, said the defamation suit, which is three and a half centimetres thick, arrived today.
Mr Craig, who stood down in June after admitting inappropriate behaviour with his former press secretary, had previously accused Mr Stringer, blogger Cameron Slater and lobbyist Jordan Williams of running a co-ordinated political attack against him - and threatened to sue them within 48 hours.
Mr Stringer said he was looking forward to the trial and the chance to expose Mr Craig and clear his own name.
Mr Craig said the suit against Mr Stringer took a long time to compile because Mr Stringer had continued making defamatory statements.
"There's been an ongoing campaign of defamation, continual blog publications, continual media statements by Mr Stringer that are untrue, and that are defamatory of me," he said.
"So, what we have done is we've taken the action as we promised we would - and we expect the courts to sort it out from here."
Mr Craig said he had already filed proceedings against Mr Slater and expected to serve Mr Williams within the next two weeks.