Police have released a statement which appears to reject the Labour Party's claim that the Prime Minister is responsible for a blow-out in the budget for diplomatic protection.
A senior media adviser says the police are fully responsible for protecting VIPs.
Labour has suggested an $800,000 blow-out in the diplomatic protection budget in the financial year to June 2010 was because Prime Minister John Key wanted more officers accompanying him.
The Government spent $4.8 million on security for Mr Key in the financial year. The annual budget for the squad is $3.98 million.
On Friday, Police Minister Judith Collins revealed that serious threats had been made against Mr Key, prompting the overspend.
Ms Collins did not reveal any details about the threats, except to say they were serious and there was more than one.
The minister says a person has been arrested and charged over one of those threats in the past few weeks. No details of the nature of the threat or the person arrested have been made public.
Ms Collins says police have not told her about details of the case.
Police on Friday released a statement rejecting Labour's claim that Mr Key is responsible for the budget blow-out.
Senior media adviser Grant Ogilvie says police are fully responsible for protecting VIPs and that, overall, the organisation was within its budget for the 2010 financial year.
Mr Ogilvie says decisions about protection are made on a case-by-case basis by police in line with international practice.
Mr Ogilvie says police will not disclose details, nor would he confirm Ms Collins' comments that a person has been charged with threatening Mr Key.
PM criticised over use of protection squad
Using figures obtained under the Official Information Act, Labour MP Pete Hodgson criticised the Prime Minister's use of the diplomatic protection squad (DPS).
Mr Hodgson says John Key does not exercise discretion when using the protection squad, because he likes an entourage.
He says there are always threats to the Prime Minister of the day, but not all would choose to take four officers with him to a royal wedding as Mr Key did.
However, Mr Key says he has no say over the work of the DPS and is not told about specific threats to him. He says diplomatic protection is the responsibility of police and he gets the same treatment as previous prime ministers.
Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark was the target of an attack on her Auckland electorate office. An axe was thrown at the office but Miss Clark was not there at the time.
Police Minister Judith Collins suggested on Friday that Labour is partially responsible for the budget blow-out, saying more than $600,000 of the overspending is a result of a new clause in the police collective agreement relating to overtime, which was introduced under Labour.
Figures show diplomatic security spending exceeded the budget during Labour's last two-and-a-half years in power.
