The Prime Minister is refusing to say whether any of his ministers raised concerns with him about Kiri Allan.
Another public servant has spoken out about Allan's behaviour towards staff, calling her "aggressive".
Chris Hipkins is now on his way back from a week-long trade visit to China, and when he lands he's expected to speak with Allan to try and draw a line under the latest in his series of scandals.
The Prime Minister indulged in his infamous home comfort offshore - no trip complete without sausage rolls anymore.
But as soon as he's home, pastry will give way to problems. An anonymous public servant has spoken out against MP Kiri Allan - telling Stuff: "She is very aggressive with people... I've had her yelling and screaming at me on the phone so loud that my staff in the room could hear it."
But the Prime Minister said staff hearing the incident could in fact, be boiled down to phone volume - then denied trying to undermine the official's account.
The official, described as a 'senior', reportedly spoke of a meeting in which the minister wouldn't let staff from Kānoa - the regional growth arm of MBIE - speak.
"The poor staff are sitting there, with other people around the table... like a deer in headlights. She spoke as badly to the Kānoa staff as she did to her own," the staffer reportedly said.
The head of that agency yesterday brushed off any bristles.
"I have had far more challenging ministers to deal with in the past," said MBIE deputy chief executive and head of Kānoa Robert Pigou.
Allan told Newshub in a statement on Friday she strongly refutes these allegations.
"No complaints have ever been taken up with MBIE or myself and certainly nothing that resembles these allegations."
The Prime Minister is once more answering questions abroad on a domestic drama.
He's stuck between a rock and a hard place with no formal complaint laid to warrant an investigation and find out whether the behaviour was just a robust minister or whether it crossed lines.
He knows the risk in a slow string of stories - it's already sunk two of his ministers.
"I can deal with complaints that are made, I can deal with actual issues. These are issues that occurred before I was Prime Minister and the feedback I've had is that they were resolved at the time," Hipkins said.
Yesterday the Prime Minister wouldn't say whether he knew about the allegations before the story broke.
"As I've indicated, I'm not going to comment on rumours," he said.
And today he refused to confirm whether senior ministers had raised concerns about Allan.
"I don't discuss staffing matters publicly," he said. "That's the answer you're getting."
The Prime Minister unable to say no.
