Defending his integrity on national television this morning, Prime Minister Bill English said he never acted "shifty" or dodged the truth during the Todd Barclay clandestine recordings saga.

During an awkward interview with Patrick Gower on The Nation today, English came under fire for his role in the cover up of recently ousted National MP Barclay's secret recordings of staff.

The Prime Minister appeared uncomfortable during tough questions from Gower, but was unflappable in his responses, claiming he never lied during the entire "sad situation".

Barclay stepped down as a candidate for the Clutha-Southland electorate on Wednesday, after a Newsroom investigation revealed English was aware Barclay had secretly recorded his former electorate agent Glenys Dickson which resulted in a settlement payout by the Government, even though he had publicly stated otherwise.

Kicking off the interview this morning, Gower declared: "This interview is all about trust, whether you can be trusted. It's all about your integrity and your standards."

On the defence, English reminded Gower that "the fact of a recording has never actually been established. The police investigation came to no conclusion."

English said he told media he had not spoken directly to the parties involved in the dispute, when in fact he had, because: "At the time there was a confidentiality around the settlement of an employment dispute and a police investigation."

"I didn't know what I could or couldn't say. I did not want to compromise either one of those pretty serious processes," English said.

Over the course of the 16-minute interview, Gower asked English if he had lied to the public, if he could be trusted by voters and if he had "let down" his own standards.

The Prime Minister's responses to some of Gower's most difficult questions can be read here:

Gower: "There's unacceptable behavior and for 16 months you sit by and do nothing, was that the right and honourable thing to do, Prime Minister?"
English: "I think you need to understand here that we had two people that I both knew, good people who fell out very badly. A difficult employment dispute arose out of that. I was not a part of that dispute at all. That had to be resolved between the employer and the employee who both have obligations, then there was a police investigation, so the matters involved in this were being dealt with appropriately by the people who needed to."

Gower: "You said you couldn't remember who told you about the taping when it was later revealed as you know that your police statement clearly said it was Todd Barclay. Is that really credible to say you forgot who told you? Can you understand how people just don't believe you?"
English: "Well I said what I thought. I went and checked the police statement and I...
Gower: "That you forgot? Do you think people believe that you forgot"
English: "Hey, did you want to hear what I had to say? I said what I thought. I went and looked at the police statement and I clarified the matter as soon as I could."

Gower: "The point that I'm getting at here is there are all these public statements that don't match up. It's like you're dodging things. It's like you're being shifty Prime Minister. Were you being shifty all this time?"
English: "No I wasn't. I was trying to, as someone who wasn't party to this dispute right from the start but knew the people involved, trying to ensure that the confidentiality of the agreement was respected and that the police investigation, the result of that, was accepted as a thorough investigation given the circumstances after which no charges were laid and in that sense there wasn't an issue."

Gower: "Do you not feel that you owe voters more on this now? Do you not feel that you know 'I let the voters down here.'"
English: "No I don't feel that. I feel that these issues have now been resolved. The original dispute is just between two people, two good people who fell out very badly, and it's actually been an internal personnel matter."

Gower: "So why did he have to leave Parliament then? Why did Todd Barclay have to leave parliament because nothing had changed in all of this that whole time except you got caught out. That's all that's changed."
English: "No I don't agree with that. I mean Todd made his own decision about retiring at the election I think he came to the view that it would be difficult to represent his constituents against the background of all the publicity around this and the different interpretations of the facts of the matter. That was his decision."

Gower: "Do you feel like you've let down your own standards. Your own standards of credibility, your own integrity through this?"
English: "Well, look other people will make a decision about that. I'm satisfied..."
Gower: "But what do you feel."
English: "I'm satisfied that in a difficult situation, knowing the personalities better than a lot of people, that this has been handled about as well as it could. It's sad and no one comes out of this better than before the events occurred. It's a shame, a real shame."

-NZ Herald