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Chucking his toys

by Whaleoil on December 16, 2011

Shane Jones has already broken ranks over asset sales and now David Cunliffe is chucking his toys:

An embittered David Cunliffe is refusing to rule out quitting Parliament altogether as leader David Shearer moves to finalise his front bench.

It is understood Mr Cunliffe has been offered a front bench seat and a senior portfolio but has balked at his proposed ranking.

A spokeswoman confirmed the two had talked on the phone and it is understood Mr Shearer, who plans to announce his team early next week, was late yesterday still waiting for a response.

Mr Cunliffe pledged his unconditional support to Mr Shearer after Tuesday’s leadership vote.

But yesterday he said he was “weighing up all my options” and would not say when he was likely to make his call.

“I have not made any decision yet.”

Labour has been allocated eight front bench seats in the new Parliament and it is likely Mr Cunliffe has been offered either the sixth, seventh or eighth slot.

The top places are likely to be taken by Mr Shearer, deputy Grant Robertson, Jacinda Ardern, finance spokesman David Parker, Shane Jones and Clayton Cosgrove with the remaining two slots open to Mr Cunliffe and his running mate, Nanaia Mahuta, or possibly Ruth Dyson or Maryan Street.

David Cunliffe is a strong, if somehwat vainglorious, performer and he will rightly feel indignant that the vacuous Jacinda Ardern is being promoted above him. The storm is coming for Labour.

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  • Jam_Sammie

    LMFAO

  • Davidw

    Buying time waiting for the job enquiry feelers to produce some results is the likely explanation.  Sad to watch in a pathetic kind of way when someone has to confront their self-image.

  • Agent BallSack

    Cunliffe studied politics at University of Otago before working first as a diplomat and then as a business consultant. In 1994 and 1995, he was a Fulbright Scholar and Kennedy Memorial Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Business School, earning a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School in 1995…
    So what the fuck is he actually qualified to do again? Other than suck the public tit?

    • Cactus Kate

      In complete fairness to Cunners it still makes him more qualified than those above him on the supposed rankings. Check their “backstory”!

  • ConwayCaptain

    If Shearer puts an unproven Show Pony on the front bench ahead of more experienced people then he needs his head read.

    the Kim Kardashian of NZ Politics has done NOTHING to deserve this ranking.

  • Roger

    Bring it on I say. Sheep plucker’s naïveté in a two short days. He’ll have Dazza back in Rongotai soon as the tooth fairy has her wings plucked. Going to be a crowded front bench with all the helengnomes.

  • Peter Wilson

    And then if he puts Shearer at no. 3, what then of his supporters that would be shuffled back.

  • Sars

    No matter who you are or what organisation you are in, this isn’t a good look. Perhaps it proves that they made the right decision in choosing Shearer (lesser of two evils) because clearly Cunliffe was only in it for himself. If he was a big-hearted, hopelessly devoted Labour man then he would accept the decision, put his head down and work towards the next election. Not this petty stuff. Think what you like in private but toe the party line in public. 

  • David

    I do value Jacinda Ardern’s ability and believe she is and will continue to be a fantastic politician.  However, I still think it is too early for her to be on the front bench – especially in front of someone like Cunliffe.  I do hope they change their mind about this – she has a lot to learn, experience and prove yet.  

    • diabolos

      Jacinda Ardern is as much use as a set of tits sewn onto a bulls nether regions.

      Its too early for her to be in parliament let alone on the front bench.  Barely out of a training bra and an arrogant pretend socialist to begin with.

      She has a lot to prove.  At present she is unelected by the electorate.  Just some stupid idiotic list ranking.

      Fantastic politician – thats got to be the biggest load of bollocks ever foisted on anyone.

  • diabolos

    The new labour lineup will be a rehash of the clark era.  The only ones rejoicing will be homosexuals and a whole heap  of man-hating women and Men who are clones of Peter Davis.  Also some who claim they are unionists but come under the same three aforementioned categories.

    The working man (and woman) – what a joke.

    I can just envisage Shearer now – being all working class – tending the vege patch to keep the household costs down – up at his flash Northland Bach.  

    At least Cunliffe appears to have balls – unlike the UN Eunuchocracy theyve stupidly put in place.  A plague on them.

    • Agent BallSack

      Wouldn’t that be a Eunocracy? Who wears the pants? Would one size fit all? And thanks for introducing a new word to the English language.

  • H2

     Hope he waka jumps to Hone Party.There he can be deputy leader.Leader when Hone takes off to Paris.

  • Sooty

    There go the toys. Better get the nappies ready and a bib!

  • Allan

    The arrogance of Cunliffe knows no bounds.  Like most of the Labour MP’s he has never had a job in the real world where most of us reside. I really hope that he leaves Parliament, his presence would not be missed and then perhaps he might find out how tough it is to really make a living and that good hard working people should not be considered as cash flow machines for all of the useless, irresponsible idiots in society.

    • Troy

      And this has been his typical power-hungry approach to the leadership competition right from the get go.  It becomes rather self-defeating when on one hand he advocates complete and utter support for Shearer, and then sits back to ponder over where he will be ranked. The leader makes the decision, Cuntliffe should either move forward or fuck off out of it – Labour I think would be truly better off without this smarmy stuck up SOB.

  • Kosh103

    Labour needs a bit of bloodshed. There needs to be a fight, and then a rebirth. Let the public see things have changed and it is not all business as usual.

  • Agent BallSack

    Its still jobs for the boys Kosh. The only blood letting is people slitting their own wrists.

  • H2

    Wonder what he will say now that Sepulini has been dumped by Paula .Paula wins Waitakere on a recount.

  • Bunswalla

    I’d like to make a late nomination for “Best use of an adjective” for 2011 – vainglorious. Has there ever been a more appropriate description of someone than that epithet directed at Silent T?

  • Gazzaw

    Cunliffe will have to fuck off and get a job that pays more than $140k as a common backbencher. His missus would be earning four times that amount and makes her money in the real world. His ego must be through the floor. He’s an intelligent bastard but at the end of the day he’s just a pointyhead with a string of useless degrees.