Colin Craig says he would seek a return to the Conservative Party leadership if there was sufficient support..

Colin Craig is not ruling out a return to the Conservative Party leadership and says he will throw his hat back in the ring if there is a groundswell of support from members.

Craig abruptly resigned on Friday, heading off a vote on his leadership by the Conservative Party board due to mounting unhappiness with his behaviour and amid swirling allegations over his relationship with former aide, Rachel MacGregor.

Craig refused to address those allegations on Saturday and told Fairfax he would issue a response on Monday. He was considering legal action against some media outlets.

But he said the suggestion that he paid MacGregor off over a complaint of sexual harassment to the Human Rights Commission was "scurrilous and false" and was one of the matters he would be taking legal advice on.

He said he had no plans to contest the leadership at this stage, though that could change.

"I would put my name forward if I had the support of the membership to do so and there's a commitment to a process that will involve members and supporters. So the answer to the question [on the leadership] comes down to 'what are members and supporters looking for?'. If they felt, you know, 'we kind of like Colin and let's keep running with that', then I'd be putting my hand up. I love the issues, I love the party and I'm happy to do the job but if I'm not the pick or there's someone else to do it, I'd totally understand that."

MacGregor resigned two days before the last election in a move that appeared to take Craig by surprise.

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Questions about allegations of sexual harrassment involving a former staff member were put to Craig at the end of his press conference on Friday, but he refused to respond. MacGregor did not return calls for comment on Friday.

Board members are understood to have delivered Craig an ultimatum ahead of Friday's meeting over the allegations and many of them flew up to Auckland expecting his leadership to be put to the vote.

They were furious when he instead postponed the meeting.

A board member, who did not want to be named, said the board was "outraged".

"Colin arbitrarily postponed our board meeting, which he doesn't have the right to do. [The press conference] is the first we heard of that.

Asked if he believed he still had the support of the Conservative Party Board Craig responded on Saturday: "No, what we've all agreed to is for me to step down and now there's going to be that process and that discussion. So in terms... my hat may not even be in the ring. There's been no discussion or calls for me to put my hat in the ring at the moment."

It was up to the board to decide the next step in the process and he was not aware of any one else putting their hand up at this stage.

Asked to respond to the allegations of sexual harassment, Craig said he would not be doing so till Monday.

"The reason I said I'll l make a statement on Monday is because I'm going to look at what's been said publicly and whose making what claims. It's very likely there will be some action taken against various media because there's some outrageous things being said. That, however, is something I can only talk about in more detail once I have taken legal advice."

But people had made allegations, and stated as fact things that were "just so patently wrong".

Craig confirmed a meeting between himself and MacGregor following the election and said there were "no outstanding issues at all that I'm aware of".

"And that's the other thing; it seems to be a lot of people are making allegations but I've not heard anything direct and as far as I'm aware those matters are resolved."

Asked if MacGregor had complained to the Human Rights Commission about his behaviour, Craig said it was up to MacGregor to comment "if indeed she wants to talk about those sorts of things"

"All I can say is that as far as I'm concerned those matters are resolved."

He said that suggestions of a financial settlement with MacGregor were false, however.

"It will be talked about more on Monday when I decide exactly what I do in response to that. I'm taking advice but I consider it to be a scurrilous allegation."

Craig founded the Conservative Party after a failed mayoral bid and has pumped millions of dollars of his own money into the organisation.

But some of his antics on the campaign trail and more recently when he did a television interview in a sauna have raised eyebrows.

Craig acknowledged that there had been criticism of his style

"Yes there were concerns about the sauna interview, that's been acknowledged....but it's not a single incident. Of course it's an accumulation of things. I acknowledge when I started three years ago I.. had a lot to learn and I don't claim to have got it right all the time."