Stuart Nash was demoted from Cabinet. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Disgraced Labour MP Stuart Nash has revealed the context around his 2020 email to two senior businessmen, which breached Cabinet confidentiality and led to his demotion from all ministerial portfolios.
He had already resigned as police minister after multiple misdemeanours, including criticising a judicial decision and phoning the police commissioner about it.
At the time, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the revelation of the email was enough to sack him outright.
Speaking to Radio Hawke's Bay Wednesday, Nash revealed in 2020 he spoke to two friends and donors, Troy Bowker and Greg Loveridge, as subject matter experts on a package to ensure small to medium businesses made it through the pandemic.
He was minister for small business at the time.
He said his friends were doing the right thing by granting rent relief to tenants during Covid-19, and they designed a package which would force other large building owners to do the same, while preventing overseas tenants from taking advantage of local landlords.
But it did not get through Cabinet, and he voiced his disappointment in an email to Bowker and Loveridge. He included details of what his Cabinet colleagues had said - a breach of confidentiality.
He said his friends could not have benefited from this, and he would do it again.
It follows the news that Nash urged senior police leadership to meet with gang leaders and "bang their heads together" during the response to Cyclone Gabrielle.
Communications between Nash and police commissioner Andrew Coster were released to RNZ on Tuesday.
Nash has said he will retire from politics at October's election.