Key must sack Banks

John Key must sack ACT leader John Banks as Minister after the police confirmed that he did solicit donations, something Mr Banks failed to tell the Prime Minister, said Green Party Co-Leader Metiria Turei.

"By not having told the whole truth to the Prime Minister while he held a ministerial warrant he's in breach of the Cabinet manual and needs to go," Mrs Turei said.

"John Banks, as a minister, said he never solicited donations and the police report shows that he did."

John Banks also told Herald reporter David Fisher that he was kept "at arms-length" from donation gathering and didn't solicit money during his 2010 Auckland Mayoral campaign.

"This is a direct contradiction of the police findings from their investigation into his donations which found he personally asked for money from Kim Dotcom and a radio station.

"The Cabinet Manual is clear that Ministers must uphold and be seen to uphold the highest ethical standards. Banks has clearly failed to meet that test and should go.

"The Prime Minister keeps saying John Banks is on solid ground because the requirement of a Minister to act ethically only apply when they're a Minister. Well he didn't.

"People would expect a Minister of the Crown to be a person of integrity with the highest ethical values and principals.

"Labour MP Lianne Dalziel lost her Ministerial warrant for lying to a reporter in 2004. Mr Key must do the decent thing and stand his minister down."