Ex-National MP apologises for 'savage' attacks on outgoing Labour MP Clare Curran

A former National Party MP has apologised for his part in targeting a Labour MP he and his colleagues saw as a "weak link".

Jami-Lee Ross, independent MP for Botany, was responding to an article published by The Spinoff about outgoing Labour MP and former Cabinet minister Clare Curran.

Curran talked about the "humiliation" she suffered at the hands of National MPs, revealing for the first time a photo of former Health Minister Michael Woodhouse holding a toilet seat with her picture on it, reportedly taken in 2012.

"I still feel quite traumatised by it," the former Broadcasting Minister told The Spinoff.

"I imagine whether they have used it or not and it's a sense of humiliation and weirdness. There's something sick about that. People who are prepared to do that… What else are they prepared to do? They were literally encouraging people to piss on me."

Curran, who was sacked from Cabinet in 2018 after failing to disclose meetings with high-profile media and technology figures, said she had to undergo months of psychological treatment. She claimed the stress of being constantly targeted by the Opposition and right-wing bloggers made her feel as though she was "literally going to die". 

Ross, who split with National in 2018, took to Twitter on Saturday night to apologise. 

"You would have to be heartless, or so partisan that you're now devoid of humanity, to not feel empathy for Clare. But at the same time, I recall being on the other side when it was all happening," he wrote.

"I was in the 8am strategy meetings when we were deciding to throw everything we had at her. I was in the morning procedures meetings as (fellow National MP) Melissa Lee would share what her latest hit on Clare was going to be.

"Clare was a weak link. National wanted to break her. And we did. Watching those question time answers, from about 10 metres away, you could pinpoint the very moment her career ended. I can only now imagine what it felt like. But at the time all we felt was excitement and success.

"Parliament turns normal people into savages. Another human was going through probably the most traumatic experience they'll ever go through. Clare lost her job, reputation, her mental well-being. What were we doing? Laughing. Backslapping. Praising the destroyers. We were awful."

Ross himself has been accused of inappropriate bullying behaviour, and also sought assistance for mental health issues in the wake of his split from the National Party. 

"It was my children that stopped me from actually going through with hurting myself," he told Newshub last year.

He finished his Twitter thread with a direct apology to Curran. 

"Yeah, accountability is important. But why enjoy the destruction of others so much? Do we really need to revel [in] someone else's downfall? Sure, we all signed up for what Parliament is. But why did we also sign up for forgetting decency when we walked in the door? Sorry Clare."

Lee told NZME there was no concerted campaign to target Curran, instead blaming her "incompetence". 

"There was no campaign against her, I was asking the questions, as is my duty as an opposition MP."

Curran is retiring from politics at the end of this term.

Newshub has contacted the National Party for comment on the photo of Woodhouse and the toilet seat.