Speculation as Hager announces new book
Tongues are wagging over the election year timing of a new book by Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager, which is poised for release a day before John Key bows out of Parliament.
An invitation to Hager’s book launch tomorrow was widely distributed yesterday. It said the book was not a sequel to Dirty Politics ‘‘nor related to the election’’. ‘‘It is a completely different book but nonetheless gripping and important.’’
The invitation ended with a note that there would be no media comment until the launch.
People seem to be taking with a grain of salt Hager’s suggestion that the book is not related to the election.
Left-wing commentator Bryce Edwards said Hager could legitimately make that claim if his target was Key, as the former prime minister would be long gone by the time of the election.
Hager famously released Dirty Politics in the run-up to the 2014 election, alleging dirty tricks by National Party MPs, spin doctors and bloggers. Hacked emails formed the basis of the book.
German internet entrepreneur and former Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom has been claiming on Twitter and elsewhere that he knows why Key resigned, linking it to ‘‘2 terabytes’’ of hacked emails and attachments taken from Government servers.
In one tweet, Dotcom claimed Key knew he couldn’t win the next election with ‘‘tons of hacked Govt emails waiting to be leaked’’.
Dotcom claimed at the last election to have evidence that proved Key lied about his extradition but failed to produce it.
Hager’s previous books have included The Hollow Men, which also drew heavily on emails, the source of which Hager has never revealed. Former National Party leader Don Brash has always claimed the emails and documents were hacked, because they could only have come from himself.
Brash and Key were the principal targets of The Hollow Men.
In 2002, Hager’s book Seeds of Distrust claimed a cover up over genetically modified corn and nearly derailed Helen Clark’s election campaign. The controversy became known as Corngate.
Hager’s new book will be released tomorrow evening, at Wellington’s Unity Books. Key delivers his valedictory to Parliament on Wednesday.
In an interview with The Spinoff last year, Hager alluded to his new book as ‘‘one of the most important projects that I could imagine in my life’’.
He would not say more about the book or title but, when asked about fallout from Dirty Politics, Hager hinted there may be more to come. ‘‘I think that when people say John Key got away with the book, and never had to answer the question – and of course he has got away with not having to answer the question so far – I think they’re not being optimistic enough. I think we may still see in the long run it will be seen to have bitten him badly and he hasn’t got away with it.’’
Edwards said he didn’t know what was in the book, but State surveillance was one guess, given Hager’s comments about it being ‘‘one of the most important projects’’ imaginable.
Hager had been tireless in his pursuit of that subject over many years.
‘‘It is a completely different book but nonetheless gripping and important.’’ Nicky Hager