Labour leader Phil Goff says ousted MP Chris Carter doesn’t have a mandate to remain as MP for Te Atatu.
Mr Carter was thrown out of the Labour caucus yesterday on a unanimous vote after sending an unsigned letter to media representatives in an attempt to undermine Mr Goff’s leadership.
Spectacular….this is going to be a massive filip for National in the polls. People do not like nasty blood-letting.
As I said yesterday if I was Chris Carter I would resign and force the broke, busted, dis-united Labour Party try and fight me off.
Mr Goff told reporters in Auckland today Mr Carter should reconsider that.
“That decision constitutionally is his, but he was elected as a Labour MP and he no longer has that mandate. He needs to reflect on that,” Mr Goff said.
“I think that he does not have a mandate to be the Member of Parliament for Te Atatu, given the withdrawal of support from the Labour Party.”
This is important here for Goff, at the moment Chris Carter is still a Labour MP. They haven’t thrown him out of the party. Does Phil Goff have the stones to take that step. Until he does then all this talk is simple bluster as the two men stare each other down.
It also looks like Phil Twyford, the hapless Member for the homeless, has been spiked again.
When Labour’s national council meets in a week’s time it is almost certain to suspend Mr Carter’s party membership. A new Te Atatu candidate would then have to be selected for the next election.
Radio New Zealand‘s political staff say it seems likely the party will look outside its caucus for a candidate.
Mr Carter says he’ll stay as on as an independent MP until the next election, but will give his vote to Labour.
This is going to be the toughest part for Labour because the LEC chair is Peter Kaiser. If he stands firm then Labour will have a problem with selections. it is clear though that they intend to strip Chris Carter of his nomination for Te Atatu and to also find a replacement candidate meaning almost certainly he is about to be Taito’d, chucked ignominiously from the Labour party, for speaking the truth.
The most telling for Labour is their utter paranoia of the “Tizard Effect”. Their reticence to talk about a sitting MP taking the nomination shows just how deeply un-popular Judith Tizard is.
For me though I think the most appalling stance taken by Labour is to question Chris Carter’s mental health, and to question it openly. This shows just how caring and sharing the Labour party really is, they are busily trying to spin and knife Chris Carter by now labeling him as mental. Phil Goff doesn’t deserve to be leader if this is to be their strategy to side-line Chris Carter.
Labour is in a real pickle. It is clear from my discussions with some Labour caucus members that Carter is both right and wrong. Let me explain, Chris Carter is right in saying that no-one thinks that Labour can win the next election, with Phil goff or anyone else for that matter, he is wrong though that caucus thinks there is someone else who could do better, there simply isn’t. Not a single name has been proffered to me as a suggested replacement for Phil. The overall feeling seems to be that like him or loathe Phil Goff is the leader only in the absence of anyone else.
One thing about Helen Clark, she ruled caucus with an iron fist, Phil Goff has let this get away on him.
