New Zealand political leader taped speaking inappropriately

New Zealand’s opposition leader has been secretly recorded calling one of his own lawmakers “f—ing useless” and making other questionable remarks as turmoil in the conservative National Party escalated.

Simon Bridges said Wednesday he’s apologized to lawmaker Maureen Pugh for making the inappropriate comment. Bridges said he has no intention of resigning after a former colleague accused him of corruption, initiated a police investigation, and posted the embarrassing phone conversation on Facebook.

Lawmaker Jami-Lee Ross resigned Tuesday after saying Bridges was corrupt because he hid a donation from a wealthy Chinese businessman by arranging for it to be split into smaller amounts to avoid it being publicly disclosed. Bridges denies the charge.

Ross went to the police Wednesday with what he claimed was evidence before posting the conversation with Bridges.