Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
Andrea Vance
,
Barry Soper
,
David Cunliffe
,
John Key
,
Maurice Williamson
,
Media training
,
Resignation
,
Social media
John Key has been praised for his response to the Maurice Williamson affair. Andrea Vance at Stuff opines:
Neatly done prime minister.
The handling of Maurice Williamson's cloddish attempts to intervene in a police investigation was textbook.
Key axed his statistics minister with ruthless efficiency.
As he admitted this morning, he had little choice. Williamson had crossed the line where careers can be saved.
After Judith Collins' questionable dalliances with Chinese company Oravida, National could not afford another whiff of cronyism.
Even the best spin doctors would struggle to contain a scandal that involves a long-serving minister, domestic violence and a wealthy donor.
John Key has since told media that he first became aware of the issue on Tuesday. There was obviously a flurry of activity yesterday, and there was a lag of only three hours this morning between the story breaking and the PM accepting Maurice Williamson's resignation as a Minister.
On the other hand, David Cunliffe has received nothing but scorn for his response to the resignation announcement. A number of journalists ripped into the Labour leader via social media for his answers by rote at the media conference he himself called on the issue, whilst Barry Soper mocked Cunliffe relentlessly when he was on with Larry Williams on Newstalk ZB. And as we type this, Seven Sharp is taking the piss out of Mr Cunliffe.
Here's but one example of the social media comment:
The general feeling is that David Cunliffe has had some media training, and that his automaton-like responses today when HE had called the media to gather for his words of wisdom was proof that the training had worked. But not necessarily in the desired manner.
