The tipline has been running hotter than ever on the battle for the Speaker. In a series of posts I will outline the information I have and the implications of each of these moves.
There are three main contenders. The top brass choice David Carter. The man best suited to the role, Maurice Williamson, and the man with the most mongrel who wants it the most, Tau Henare.
Outside of the three main contenders there are several outsiders, with Eric Roy, Hekia Parata and Lindsay Tisch being touted.
The broarder implications of Tau declaring is that National now have the first signs of unruliness inside caucus. The Prime Minister will not anoint the Speaker, as he has done with every other position so far. There will be old fashioned backroom politics that the PM and his key henchman Steven Joyce have limited experience at.
It is also a sign of the times, there is a strong undercurrent of discontent within caucus, who consider Cabinet aloof, out of touch and of limited ability. If Tau is not bought off he could cause havoc, and could also make others in caucus think that they should have a go too, as they have nothing to lose.
The really difficult thing for John Key is his key offsiders, Steven Joyce and Peter Goodfellow, have no rapport with the back bench. There is no good will towards Peter because he is a Muppet, and even less towards Steven because he is bloody difficult for anyone to like. He is near impossible to get into your electorate if you are a backbencher, and he has a staff who are holier than thou and bloody rude to backbenchers.
As I said I’m going to buy a truck load of popcorn because this is setting itself up for a whole heap of fun, all we need now is corporate whore Matthew Hooton to start running stocks on Parliaments next Speaker.
At this rate London might be a pipe dream for Lockwood.
As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.
They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.
He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.
Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.
To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.