that of Māori Affairs. He and the four other New Zealand First Māori MPs — Tuku Morgan, Rana Waitai, Tu Wyllie and Tuariki Delamere — became known as the Tight Five, an allusion to the five tight forwards in a rugby union team. Mauri Pacific National and New Zealand First initially worked very well together, but relations became more strained after Jenny Shipley ousted Jim Bolger as National leader and Prime Minister in 1997. In August 1998, the coalition started to become unstable, and internal tensions arose within New Zealand First itself. When Shipley sacked Peters from Cabinet on 14 August 1998, Peters pulled New Zealand First out of the coalition. However, Henare and several other New Zealand First MPs left the party to sit as independents. They offered their support to National, allowing the government to maintain a slim majority. It later emerged that before departing, Henare had mounted an unsuccessful challenge to Peters. Later in 1998, he banded together with four other MPs who had departed New Zealand First (including two other members of the Tight Five, Morgan and Waitai), to form a new party, Mauri Pacific, with himself as the new party's leader. Late in the term, he was criticised for refusing to give Trevor Mallard a chance to speak on the use of the Māori language in Parliament because Mallard is not Māori. In the 1999 election, Henare finished a distant third in his electorate and Mauri Pacific only gained 0.08% of the vote, forcing Mauri Pacific out of Parliament. National Party In the 2002 election, after Mauri Pacific's dissolution, Henare stood as a candidate for the National Party. He contested the Te Atatū electorate, and was ranked thirty-fifth on National's list. On election day, Henare finished second in Te Atatū, and National did not win enough votes for Henare to return to Parliament as a list MP. In the , Henare stood again as a National candidate, again contesting Te Atatū and holding the 29th slot on the party list. He expressed agreement with the controversial Orewa speech on race relations made by National Party leader Don Brash. Henare almost doubled his vote from the result but still finished a distant second in Te Atatū. However, National's gains in the election were enough to return him to Parliament as a list MP. With the National Party in opposition, Henare was a member of the Māori