0 The Three Amigos Caption Contest

The Herald had this less-than-flattering photo yesterday in the second instalment of its essay on David Cunliffe. And we reckon it's a natural for a Caption Contest.

What might Mr Cunliffe, Michael Cullen and Shane Jones be thinking? You all know the rules by now; keep 'em short, pithy and amusing, and don't get unnecessarily personal. Beyond that, you're limited only by your imagination.

The floor is yours...

0 The John, Sam and Shane Caption Contest

We haven't had a Caption Contest for a while, so for no other reason than because we can and because we feel like a little light relief, here goes. 

What might John Key, Sam Lotu-Iiga and their new bestie Shane Jones be thinking or saying as the do the rounds of the Pacific Islands?

You know the rules; keep 'em short, funny, pithy and to the point, and don't get any more personal than is necessary. Beyond that, you're limited only by your imagination.

We'll get the ball rolling:

John Key; Why isn't Shane wearing a tie? Good question. Mr Cunliffe took all the red ties back when Shane left the Labour Party. He's a bit mean, eh...

0 Is Shane Jones the new Winston?

We've often said, semi-seriously, that Shane Jones would be a natural to replace Winston Peters as the leader of Winston First. But could that be closer to the mark than we think? Check out this morning's Herald:

Even before he gave his farewell speech in Parliament last week, renegade former Labour MP Shane Jones was already in a conversation about his return to politics with Mana's Hone Harawira, who in turn indicated he is considering leaving.
Ahead of his valedictory speech in Parliament on Thursday, Mr Jones was given a lapel microphone to wear by TVNZ's Marae programme. Yesterday Marae reported fragments of a conversation before the speech between Mr Jones and Mr Harawira who was unaware of the live microphone.
"If you come back in 2017 with Winston, I'll f****** hang round mate. Otherwise I'm out of here", Mr Harawira said.
Mr Jones who was rumoured to be considering throwing in his lot with Mr Peters' NZ First yesterday denied he was contemplating a return in 2017.
"My whole focus is te Moana Nui a Kiwa (the Pacific)."
Mr Jones left Parliament to take up a newly created role as a roving economic ambassador across the Pacific.

He said he had no idea what lay behind Mr Harawira's comment.
"You've got to go and ask Hone that."
Mr Harawira did not respond to requests for comment.

This is a fascinating insight into the mind of Hone Harawira. While all this is going on, the negotiations between his party and the Dotcom Internet Party, still without a leader or any candidates, continue; read on:

Mr Harawira's suggestion to Mr Jones he also considering leaving Parliament comes as his party closes in on a deal with Kim Dotcom's Internet Party.
Mana Party secretary Gerard Hehir yesterday confirmed the party had finalised a draft agreement with the Internet Party over the weekend.
That agreement now required final approval from within each party which was expected this week.

We're yet to be convinced that the Internet Party has any future. Kim Dotcom's extradition hearing is set to begin on 7 July, and Dotcom himself suffered a major setback when the courts ruled against him on Friday. 

Shane Jones is probably the only person who could revive Winston First though, once Father Time takes care of Peters once and for all. The survival of the party in September becomes all the more critical, but the polls last night suggest that's by no means a given.

We're in for a few interesting months.

0 Shane's last day

Shane Jones will deliver his valedictory speech today in Parliament.

We've just seen him interviewed on the TVNZ Breakfast programme. He recounted his maiden speech to Parliament, describing how a copy had to be screened by Helen Clark then Speaker Margaret Wilson to ensure that it was of sufficient quality. Jones described his maiden speech as "a bit wooden", but has promised that today's speech will have a lot more personality!

Mr Jones has been something of a character, and with his views on advancing the aspirations of Maori through economic development (including drilling and mining) left him offside with many of his colleagues. At times he has looked to be a square peg trying to fit into a round hole in the Labour Party.

It remains to be seen whether Shane Jones will fire any parting shots at his about-to-be former colleagues. He made one interesting comment on Breakfast; that he had a lot of time for former Labour leader David Shearer, and that he believed that Mr Shearer's appeal to the public would have grown had they had the opportunity to get to know him better. Is that a hint that David Cunliffe's systematic undermining of David Shearer may get a mention?

We look forward to Shane Jones' E noho rā speech early this evening, and wish him well for a future away from the cut and thrust of Parliament.

0 What's going on in Tamaki Makaurau?

Labour's troubled Tamaki Makaurau candidate selection took another turn yesterday. Maori broadcaster Julian Wilcox confirmed that he is no longer interested in trying out for the Labour nomination; Stuff reports:

Maori TV's Julian Wilcox has quashed speculation he will stand for Labour in the coming general election.
Wilcox has long been rumoured to be a potential candidate in Tamaki Makaurau, with speculation strengthening after the Labour Party council refused a waiver to allow ex-TVNZ presenter Shane Taurima to stand.
Maori Television issued a statement today saying Wilcox, the station's general manager for news and current affairs, would not be standing for Labour.
"To clarify his position Julian Wilcox has made an unequivocal statement to Maori Television that he is not seeking political office for any political party in the forthcoming elections and remains committed to his job as GM of news and current affairs at Maori Television," the statement said.
Chief executive Paora Maxwell said the company accepted Wilcox's written statement "and we will continue to value our editorial independence in providing impartial and independent news coverage of significant regional and national stories from a Maori perspective". 

We don't blame Mr Wilcox for putting his career ahead of his political aspirations for now. He is a very good and influential Maori broadcaster. He has nothing to gain from getting involved in Labour's Tamaki Makaurau train-wreck, or with the Labour Party.

When Pita Sharples announced his intention to retire from politics at the election, Labour aggressively targeted Tamaki Makaurau. Initially, it was thought that Shane Jones would stand. When Jones opted out, Shane Taurima was touted, then the stink at TVNZ blew up. Julian Wilcox considered standing, but only if Shane Taurima was excluded; Wilcox was not prepared to stand against his broadcasting colleague.

Of course, nominations for the Tamaki Makaurau candidate selection have already closed. Educator Will Flavell's nomination has been accepted, and that should be all she wrote. But David Cunliffe indicated on Breakfast this morning that it is likely that Labour's council will reopen nominations, and that there will be "significant interest" in the nomination. If that's the case, where was the "significant interest" all the other times that nominations have opened, closed then opened again?

Will Flavell should be given the opportunity be Labour's candidate for Tamaki Makaurau. He has played by the rules, and there seems to be no legitimate reason why he should not be confirmed as the Labour Party candidate. To once again reopen nominations, and to have someone else given the nod would be contrary to the principles of fairness and natural justice.

Then again, this is the Labour Party we're talking about, so the principles of fairness and natural justice probably do not apply. The Tamaki Makaurau candidate selection is a complete and utter dog's breakfast which does Labour, the Tamaki Makaurau LEC and the TVNZ branch of Tamaki Makaurau Labour no credit whatsoever.

0 Small on the Jones "cluster failure"

Vernon Small is one of the more senior members of Parliament's Press Gallery. He has seen more MP's come and more MP's go than most of us have had hot dinners. So he's not given to going overboard.

That makes his column in yesterday's Dominion-Post even more noteworthy. Under the heading Church collapsed? Buy a house Small opines:

Helen Clark would have lowered her voice and with a hint of authority - and a side order of menace - drawled "it's time to move on".
Labour leader David Cunliffe must be hoping he can move the party, and the political agenda, on after what is surely the heart of darkness of his political year.
If things could get any worse than the cluster failure around Shane Jones' sudden departure to work for a government he was supposed to want out of office, it is hard to see what they could be.

When Mr Small says "cluster failure", we're pretty sure that he means a variant of that phrase, which also starts with "cluster", followed by the letter "f". But the Dom-Post is a polite newspaper, and such a turn of phrase might be frowned upon by Small's editor. However, we all get the picture.

And it has been a shocker of a week for David Cunliffe and his party. Shane Jones quite literally lobbed the electoral equivalent of a hand grenade into Labour's War Room, and the party's handling of the issue is deserving of the "clusterf#ck" label.

Small continues:

The danger for Cunliffe, in the wake of Jones' departure, is that with some in the party wading knee deep in vitriol it will spill over into civil war, revisiting the divisions of the 2012 annual conference. (That's the one where according to some Cunliffites the media fabricated Cunliffe's challenge to David Shearer's leadership.)
Already the same divisions are surfacing. On one side there are the "good riddance to Jones" merchants who seem to believe the broad church party would have a wider appeal if its MPs came from a smaller chapel. It sometimes seems they would rather people - voters - changed their ways rather than the party appealed to a broader array of views.
On the other side are those who lament the loss of Jones' appeal to Maori, soft centrist or conservative National voters but use his supposed straight talking - too many "geldings" in the party etc - to attack identity politics.
At times it becomes indistinguishable from prejudice and downplays the strong strand of liberal egalitarianism and concern for human rights at the party's core. Both axes seem to think tolerance is essential, as long as you agree with me.
Cunliffe's task is to heal those wounds yet again - as Clark mostly did after her messy coup against Mike Moore in 1993 - and get the party back to its core messages. There are, after all, only 20 weeks till polling day.

If a week is a long time in politics, the 20 weeks until the election must seem like an eternity to David Cunliffe. His party is in disarray, his policy launches have been botched, his party's social media efforts (including his own) have been ridiculed, and now his best-performing MP can see that there is not going to be much chance of a seat at the Cabinet table after 20th September.

The wounds within Labour are deep, and mere Band Aids will not suffice. Helen Clark, Phil Goff and David Shearer all resisted major surgey, but now that may be the only option Mr Cunliffe has left.

0 Quote of the Day - 26 April 2014

Claire Trevett from the Herald provides this perspective on the Shane Jones departure:

Whether it is truth or simply perception is irrelevant: Jones was seen as the last bastion of the centre ground for Labour as well as providing an important buffer from the view that the party was more obsessed with identity politics and political correctness than everyday grafters.
He was certainly the one who articulated it best.
The party now has to work out how to at least hold those voters and shed the perception it is lurching ever leftwards without Jones.

Josie Pagani - a Jones supporter and former Labour candidate - says it needs to do that fast.
"With Shane gone, it feels like the message to people who think like Shane, or identified with Shane, none of those people have received a message saying you're still welcome in the Labour Party. I think that's the problem."
She said the anti-Jones brigade among Labour's activists erupted in celebration on social media without appearing to realise they were effectively sending a message to others that if they identified with Jones, they were not wanted in Labour.
"All you have to do is look at the parade of people popping champagne and saying 'good riddance' in the blogosphere. Are we really saying to people who look and think and sound like Shane that they may as well go and vote National because you're not welcome in Labour?"

Josie Pagani will get no love from the left-leaning blogosphere. But she is just being honest. Readers with long memories will remember that Mrs Pagani copped a serve from factions within the party when she described the difficulty of selling Labour's policies at the 2011 General Election; especially the daft policy to extend to in-work tax credit to people who were not in work. 

The Labour Party seems hell-bent on self-destruction, and the divide between the party's liberal Left and those who still purport to represent Chris Trotter's mythical Waitakere Man is wider than it has ever been. Who are we though to dissaude the Labour Party from imploding?

0 Armstrong on Labour's bad week

Herald chief political commentator John Armstrong muses on Labour's bad week. Under the headline Labour's brutal week reveals Achilles heel, Armstrong opines:

Could things get any worse for David Cunliffe than they did this week?
It is quite conceivable they might, of course. Cunliffe's leadership of Labour still has a way to go before it hits rock-bottom. But this week's very public exhibition of the disunity which flows freely and abundantly from the deep schisms within the party may well have proved to be sufficiently damaging to have put victory in September's general election out of reach.
Senior Labour figures are bracing themselves for an expected hit in the opinion polls, but are confident it will be shortlived.
Before this week's disasters, Labour's own pollsters were said to have been registering the party's vote at around 30 per cent. That is very close to the 29.5 per cent recorded in the most recent Herald-DigiPoll survey.
However, usually reliable sources say National's private polling over the past week points to the real scale of Labour's horror story with support crumbling to a mindblowing low of just 23 per cent.

If National's polling is anywhere near accurate, and there is no reason to suspect that it isn't, Labour is in a word of trouble. The party is in the same kind of territory where the Bill English-led National Party was in 2002, and if it is indeed true that less than one quarter of voters will support Labour it seems impossible that David Cunliffe will be in a position to form a government.

There's a big difference however. In 2002, National had completed just three years in opposition, and there had been a significant clean-out from the Bolger-Shipley years. Labour is SIX years into opposition, and hasn't yet had a clean-out. Not only did most of its MP's serve Helen Clark, but there are still three from the Lange-Palmer-Moore era!

Armstrong continues, noting with reference to a danse macabre within Labour:

The start of the week was punishing enough in itself with Labour squirming in humiliation following National's cruise missile-like strike which removed the Opposition party's current prime asset from the forthcoming election campaign.
Labour's embarrassment at losing Shane Jones as a result of a quite brilliant piece of politics on Murray McCully's part left Labour powerless to hit back at National.
But that was no excuse for the outbreak of factional warfare in the form of the Labour left indulging in a danse macabre on Jones' still warm political corpse.
This would not have been in National's script. The governing party would consequently have been pinching itself at its good fortune in provoking such disarray.
For those in Labour's ranks still interested in winning the election, observing the self-destructive behaviour must have been the equivalent of watching members of the orchestra on the heavily-listing Titanic fighting over who owned the instruments.

There's plenty more in Armstrong's piece where he highlight's the monster that Labour created for itself in 2012 when the party changed the rules on how leaders were selected, seizing the power from caucus. This has left the majority of Labour's MP's saddled with a leader they either dislike or despise, depending on how involved they are with the ABC faction.It's well worth a read in full.

But it's clear that Shane Jones' departure, and the circumstances surrounding it have sent shockwaves through the bitterly-divided Labour caucus. This close to the General Election, that's not where Labour wants to be.

0 Emmerson on Shane's Great Escape

Very few words are needed to complement Rod Emmerson's fine cartoon in today's NZ Herald:

The only thing that we can't work out is the razor wire; is it there to keep Labour MP's in, or to keep the voting public out?

0 Quotes of the Day - 24 April 2014

There has been so much written about Shane Jones' shock departure from politics that we could blog about it all day. But we're on holiday, so have selected two small snippets.

The first one is from Andrew Dickens at Newstalk ZB who, let's just say, is not normally right-leaning in his opinions. Dickens opines thus:

I’m getting tired of asking ‘what is Labour thinking?’. But that’s what we’ve been saying all year long.
It’s time for them to be firing shots. The election is 20 weeks away, the budget just days away, and Labour is firing shots alright - right into their own feet.
Rajen Prasad's stand on Nigella Lawson in the weekend was truly laughable. We can’t keep out a visitor without criminal conviction unless they represent truly objectionable viewpoints such as rappers praising gang rape or holocaust deniers. We can’t deny Nigella a visa unless we decide that she really does use too much butter. So it was a Don Quixote moment, except Nigella will never look like a windmill. The real story is that Rajen was not under control. Matt McCarten seems to have lost his legs, just like Benji Marshall - the game line is safe.
Then there was Andrew Little's outrage yesterday that Wanaka worked over Easter weekend. Labour says they’re all about jobs, but they’re not when they say that when 25,000 people visit town no-one is allowed to profit from it due to an antiquated law. Wanaka jobs are dependent on snow and the Warbirds. They wanted to make money, they wanted jobs so I don’t get what Andrew is on about. When the workers want to work and when the work is there, they work and you let them. That’s called supporting workers Mr Little. I didn’t hear anyone from Wanaka moaning about working when they flouted the law and made hay.
So another week of more gaffes, more overthinking. It’s a weekly wonder. And before all you Labour supporters start thinking I’m some sort of Tory cheerleader, there's Shane Jones.
Has there ever been a clearer example of a rat leaving the sinking ship than Shane? Last year he charged for the Labour leadership. This year he's leaving to be a salary boy, jacked up by Murray McCully no less. He’s given up. He can’t see a Cabinet job on the government benches so he’s off to make hay. Can’t say I blame him!
So Labour has lost its mojo. It doesn’t even know how to spell mojo. There’s something deeply wrong. After two terms out of office, they should not be this far out of the race this close to an election. It’s sad. 

That's pretty powerful stuff from Dickens, but he's dead right in our ever-humble opinion. Good government needs to be balanced by good opposition, and the quality of the Labour opposition at present is sadly lacking.

And the second quote comes from right inside Labour's tent with the words of Clayton Cosgrove, on of the head honchos of the ABC faction. Drawing a rugby analogy, Cosgrove provides this gem:

List MP Calyton Cosgrove, a close friend of Jones, said he was "gutted'' his mate was leaving and admitted it would hurt the party five months out from the September 20 election.
The pair have been close for several years. Both came from business backgrounds before joining politics and had worked closely together on many issues, latterly Labour's attack on supermarkets.
"I am gutted he's going. He will leave a massive hole in our movement because he had such an appeal,'' Cosgrove said.
But he said he respected the call Jones had made.
Cosgrove would not comment on whether he was aware of Jones' move beforehand but conceded the resignation would not help Labour.
"It definitely takes away one of our big hitters. Shane was like a ballistic cannon when he fired. When you lose anybody that's a talented bloke ... it would be like losing Richie McCaw from the Crusaders. It makes your job a bit tougher.''

Labour has so few "big hitters" that the loss of Jones is going to be a huge hurdle for the party.  It's going to show now how inept so many of Labour's MP's gahave been this year as they focus on the things that DON'T matter to the vast majority of New Zealanders.

Of course MMP makes the impossible seem possible, and Labour still has a chance of cobbling together some kind of coalition of the desperate and dateless, but in reality, would you trust them with New Zealand's finances when they can't even organise themselves? We certainly wouldn't.

0 Song of the Day - 24 April 2014

We may be in a different land, but Curly Sue has been in touch again. And that can only mean one thing; the mickey being extracted.

If you were a child of the 1970's you'll remember English band Supertramp. With much pleasure, we present to you Curly Sue's slight re-arrangement of Goodbye Stranger:

"Goodbye Labour"

(Shane Jones bids "Haere ra" to his party)

It was an early morning Easter day
I was up before the dawn
And I’m not so sure I enjoyed my stay
But I must be moving on

I consulted with my whanau
and I got straight on the phone
Said “I've had my fill of Labour
And I must be moving on” (yeah, yeah)

Now I don’t believe what Cunliffe says
Is the undisputed truth
And I want to be in Pacific trade
While I still got my youth

I don’t need political rancour
And media scrutiny is a pain
Just the thought of Hotel TVs
Sends a shiver through my veins

And I will redefine ‘Shane’
‘Shane’ will be brand new
I'll never look behind me
And my troubles will be few

Goodbye Labour it's been nice
Hope my leaving wont paralyse
Tried to see your point of view
McCully made my dreams come true
Goodbye Trevor, Goodbye Dave
Will we ever meet again?
I feel no sorrow, I feel no shame
Come election, you’ll feel pain

Party devotion is not for me

Backbench demotion has set me free

Islands in ocean, far away

Is the life I’ve chosen every day

So goodbye Trevor, Goodbye Dave

Will we ever meet again?

Will Labour win? I think they won’t
Another poll just fell
And silent T doesn’t get the throne
I guess it's just as well

Calling out Countdown’s behaviour
Was really good for me
Say National’s my saviour
 Well its better than the Greens

And I will redefine ‘Shane’
‘Shane’ will be brand new
I'll never look behind me
And my troubles will be few

Goodbye Labour it's been nice
Hope my leaving wont paralyse
Tried to see your point of view
McCully made my dreams come true
Bye Jacinda, Goodbye Clare
Gee your cupboard’s looking bare
I feel no sorrow, I feel no shame
Come election, you’ll feel pain

Now I’m leaving, got go, hit the road

I say it once again

As I’m leaving

Not sorry I’m not stayin

Bye Jacinda, Goodbye Clare

I’m leaving, I’ve got to get away

For those of you unfamiliar with the tune but who want to sing along with Shane's little waiata, here's the original:

We thank Curly Sue warmly for this little ditty. It will be in our mind as we holiday today!

0 Tweet of the Day - 22 April 2014

We can only speculate that Trevor Mallard was in shock when he posted this last night:

The published reactions are only the first three on a lengthy list. Few of them were positive towards the MP for Hutt South, and several suggested that he ought to follow Shane Jones' example.

Here's hoping that Mr Mallard is overseeing Labour's social media in the run-up to the election, as there will be SMOG's (Social Media Own Goals) for Africa!

0 Labour's own manufactured crisis

At last Labour has a crisis to be concerned about; even if it is its own crisis; Vernon Small from the Dom-Post reports:

Disarray. There is no other word to describe the mess the Labour Party plunged into last night. Not only did it have to come to terms with the loss of one of its strongest performers in Shane Jones, the party seemed to freeze like a possum in the headlights.
More than 90 minutes after the story broke there was no official confirmation, and leader David Cunliffe and his deputy David Parker neither returned media calls nor issued any statements.
Press secretaries were either unable to help, unhelpful or offline, and party president Moira Coatsworth and secretary Tim Barnett initially went to ground.
Former leader David Shearer was gracious enough to confirm he knew of the resignation, but other MPs said it was a "bolt from the blue" and "gutting" before a gagging order went around the caucus.
His replacement off the list Kelvin Davis - a mate of Jones - said he knew nothing.
It took Coatsworth until well into the evening to finally confirm Jones was quitting, just as Cunliffe and Jones went into a meeting together.
If anything was designed to scream "crisis" it was this. Jones will be a serious loss to the party.

Forget that manufactured manufacturing crisis that Labour was a party to in 2012-13. This is a genuine crisis for Labour, and it's happening right now.

And it's not just Vernon Small saying this. Over at the Herald, John Armstrong opines thus:

Shane Jones' shock decision to quit as a Labour MP will lead voters to draw one conclusion and one conclusion only: that he thinks Labour cannot win the September general election.
His departure is close to an unmitigated disaster for Labour. For starters, unlike the bulk of his colleagues, Jones could reach into segments of the vote - especially blue-collar males - who have switched off Labour. He was in the process of switching those traditional relationships back on.
He was a major weapon in helping Labour to win back more of the Maori seats.
Perhaps of most significance, Labour has lost the one man who would have acted as the essential go-between in securing Winston Peters' signature on a post-election coalition or co-operation agreement between Labour and New Zealand First which enabled Labour to govern.

Shane Jones has clearly blindsided the Labour Party's top brass. Pretty much the closest thing Labour had to Chris Trotter's mythical creature Waitakere Man, Jones appealed to the kind of voters that have deserted Labour as it forgot its working-class-and-proud-of-it roots, and set out to appeal the the urban elite in the likes of Grey Lynn and Wellington Central.

Armstrong also spells out the logistical implications of Jones' decision to bail out:

He might not have intended it, but his leaving is also a massive blow to Labour's morale at one of the worst possible times - just five months before election day when the party is endeavouring to motivate its membership to go door-knocking to get out the Labour vote.
The best that can be said is that Cunliffe will now not be overshadowed by anyone from his own side during the formal election campaign. That was always going to be a danger when Jones was around.

If Labour wasn't already in enough trouble, the departure of Jones is going to twist the knife. It's going to make it especially difficult for Labour to win back the Maori vote, although there is one upside; Jones' replacement Kelvin Davis will be able to campaign against Hone Harawira with the resources of Parliament behind him one he becomes an MP again.

However Labour spins this, it is a genuine setback, and from what we've seen and read this morning, Labour's top brass was in crisis mode last night. Shane Jones' biggest contribution to the New Zealand political scene might just be his exit from politics.

0 Haere ra Jonesy

Shane Jones will leave politics at the end of May. And it's all Murray McCully's doing; the Herald reports:

Labour MP Shane Jones will leave politics at the end of next month, saying he had come to the conclusion over Easter that it was time to go.
Mr Jones said he had told Labour leader David Cunliffe of his decision as well as the Party President Moira Coatsworth.
He has been in talks with Foreign Minister Murray McCully for some time about a possible role in an international fisheries management role and expected that to go through.
He said he would leave at the end of next month after reflecting over Easter about his future.
TV3 reported Mr Jones would be taking on a role of Pacific Economic Ambassador, created by the National Government especially for him.
Senior members of Labour were not aware of his decision to leave.

This is a serious blow for the Labour Party. Jones' profile grew significantly in the run-up to Labour's Got Talent last year. At times this year, Jones has seemed to be the only Labour member doing any serious work, and the decision of the Commerce Commission to investigate Countdown's business practices was a feather in his korowai.

Shane Jones also became the unofficial leader of Labour's Maori caucus last year after Parekura Horomia's passing. Today's announcement will have significant implications for Labour's relationship with Maori.

And Stuff reports shock within Labour's ranks:

The Labour Party appears to have gone into shock tonight over the news that high-profile list MP Shane Jones is to quit both  the party and politics before the next election.
Neither Labour leader David Cunliffe, nor his deputy David Parker returned calls.
The decision will be a big blow to Labour which loses one of its strongest performers in election year and at a crucial time when it is struggling to make headway in the polls.
Party president Moira Coatsworth and secretary Tim Barnett did not respond to calls and senior Labour press secretaries also had their phones switched to voicemail.  

Every National MP retirement announcement in recent months has been greeted with cries about rats deserting a sinking ship. But it's hard to see any other spin on Jones' decision than him not wanting to spend another three years in the wilderness of opposition.

Will tonight's announcement see the unravelling of David Cunliffe's caucus. Best we stock up on beer and popcorn, from our vantage point across the Tasman!