Former Big Gay Out organiser Garreth Spillane says he quit his job after four months with the National Party because he was accused of being a “Labour spy”, the Sunday Star Times reports. National's Chief of Staff Wayne Eagleson denied the claim, saying Spillane left due to an employment matter. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Helen Clark says Spillane was not a Labour Spy. The Sunday Star Times understands that Spillane resigned after “historic employment concerns” were raised following his appointment. Spillane says he “fell on my sword” after a number of issues were raised in phone calls to the National Party, including the claim that Labour had planted him. He also said he hated the travel, and clocked up 30 trips to the regions in small planes. He only had two nights a week at his home in Wellington, which was “bloody awful”. During a recent holiday in Japan, he made the decision to quit and advised Eagleson upon his return. Spillane was appointed as Don Brash's image maker, after the Leader of the Opposition made several public relations gaffes, including being unprepared for a press conference and being photographed “walking the plank” onto a boat. Spillane said he was sick of being “public fodder”. Politics suits a “certain type of person… who have to have blinkers on. It's hard to do other things you love.” The appointment of openly gay Spillane raised eyebrows within the LGBT and wider communities, after Don Brash stated, prior to last year's election, that gays were “clearly not mainstream.” He later retracted his position, admitting that “some” gays were indeed mainstream. Ref: Sunday Star Times (d)