John Key has no credibility - our troops would have been sent by National

John Key can rubbish the following claims as much as he want's - it was National Party policy to send troops to Iraq, and will be in the future to anywhere else the US gets invoved in. Key has no credbility any more than the National Party.

Party leader John Key is rubbishing claims by an outspoken visiting politician that a National government would be likely to send NZ troops into war zones like Iraq.

British MP George Galloway is on a whirlwind tour to promote religious tolerance and he warns that National would adopt the war strategy of Britain and Australia.

Expelled from the British Labour Party in 2003 for opposing the Iraq invasion, Galloway was suspended from parliament just this month because of another row over Iraq.

Now he is in New Zealand and warns that the country could tread a dangerous path if it votes for a National government at the next election. He says following Australia's war strategy could make NZ a target for extremism.

"That would be a danger in itself because they are more likely to take New Zealand in the Australian trajectory and trust me you don't want to go there," he says.

But party leader John Key says there is no way National would be taking the country in that direction.

"George is talking absolute rubbish...we've made it quite clear we won't be going to Iraq, we wouldn't have sent troops to Iraq. National did support the Coalition of the Willing's right to send troops but that's because we are of the view that every country is entitled to take its own actions, but we certainly won't be going," says Key.

But the current government is also copping its share of criticism with Galloway questioning the secrecy surrounding the role of NZ's troops in some hot spots.

"There's some lack of clarity about New Zealand's role in the war in Afghanistan...just how many people you have, just what they're doing there appears to be a little clouded for a free country like this," he says.

And Galloway says Christian groups preaching an anti-Islam stance risk souring attitudes toward Muslims.

"They only number 45,000, they've never done anything wrong. Why let someone stir up division and hatred in your country."

Galloway says New Zealand is one of the most united countries he has seen and we should work to keep it that way.