Electoral race-baiting clicked up a gear yesterday when Maori Party co-leader John Tamihere smeared “Pakeha” as "asymptomatic racists".

What stood out in former Labour MP John Tamihere’s opening salvo in his bid to return the Maori Party to Parliament by winning Tamaki Makaurau Maori seat was his unashamed twisting of the meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi. He said: