Lawyers for Don Brash say he was defamed by Matthew Hooton’s suggestion he was dishonest. It wasn’t the fact that Matthew Hooton’s fiery monologue described Don Brash as a “fundamentally bad person” and his infamous Ōrewa speech as “despicably racist” that prompted Brash to file defamation proceedings. It was the suggestion the former National and Act leader was too intelligent to honestly believe what he and his advocacy group Hobson’s Pledge say about Māori.