More in the spy scandal

More dirt on John Key that's likely to go nowhere

Key met spy candidate for breakfast

Prime Minister John Key had breakfast with Ian Fletcher just days after he selected a panel to interview candidates for the country's top spy job.

The man brought in by Key to spy on Kiwis

Stuff,

24 April, 2013

The pair ate together at Auckland's Stamford Plaza Hotel on June 17, 2011. Mr Key says the vacancy, as head of the Government Communications Security Bureau, was not discussed.

Three days earlier, Mr Key had signed off on an interview panel for the job, which included then Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet boss Maarten Wevers. Mr Fletcher was the only person to be interviewed for the post, after a shortlist of four other candidates was rejected.

In the past month Mr Key's varying accounts of his relationship with Mr Fletcher have been seized on by the Opposition.

Labour's deputy leader, Grant Robertson, said: "Given the number of times John Key's story has shifted, it's hard to believe that the [GCSB] role did not come up."

Documents released yesterday by State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie show it was agreed on July 6 that a shortlist of four candidates, drawn up by a recruitment consultant, was not suitable.

Mr Key went on to make the controversial telephone call encouraging Mr Fletcher, who was then working in Australia, to apply. He was interviewed on July 26.

While in New Zealand, Mr Fletcher met acting GCSB director Simon Murdoch, Security Intelligence Service director Warren Tucker and Intelligence Coordination Group director Roy Ferguson. The SSC said these briefings were "usual" for candidates at this stage in the recruitment process.

On August 3, Rennie phoned Mr Key to offer an update following the interview.

Consultancy and other fees for the appointment process were almost $60,000, the papers reveal.

The documents include a Cabinet paper from August 2011 which recommends Mr Fletcher's appointment. It makes no reference to Mr Key's childhood acquaintance with Mr Fletcher. The pair attended the same Christchurch school and their mothers were best friends.

A spokeswoman for Mr Key says he "briefed Cabinet orally about his knowing Mr Fletcher".

Mr Robertson said the relationship should have been disclosed in the Cabinet paper.

"He also fails to mention that he called Ian Fletcher. It is a continuation of his economy with the truth when it comes to this appointment process," he said