Ewing-Jarvie outs himself in a story in the Sunday Star-Times which reports:
An aide to dumped Act deputy Heather Roy says he leaked the memo accusing Rodney Hide of being a bully partly because Hide was smearing him with false claims about supplying drugs.
Simon Ewing-Jarvie, Roy's ministerial adviser until she lost her posts on Tuesday, said he leaked the 82-page document as the relationship between Hide and Roy went into meltdown.
Its release destroyed their bid to put on a united front after Roy was replaced by John Boscawen in a 3-2 caucus split. Ewing-Jarvie said he leaked the dossier because he wanted the truth about her sacking made public.
"It gutted me that Hide was saying 'I'm not going to tell you why [Roy was sacked]'."
Ewing-Jarvie is, in our humble opinion an extremely misguided individual, and one really has to question Heather Roy's judgment in allowing him to exert so much influence on her defence portfolio. That's especially so when one reads this in the Herald on Sunday:
Concerns have emerged at the depth of ousted minister Heather Roy's relationship with her most senior adviser, whose Beehive security clearance had just been blocked after an investigation into his background.
The Security Intelligence Service withheld security clearance for Simon Ewing-Jarvie, a former New Zealand Army lieutenant colonel, shortly before he took part in an Act Party insurrection.
The battle within Act ended in Roy being ousted as deputy leader, dumped as a minister, and sent on two weeks' leave. Ewing-Jarvie also left and was stripped of all access to Parliament and its computer systems.
It is understood that the shutdown process was pre-planned because of the concerns raised by the security review.
Political confidantes of Roy have expressed concern over the advice she has been receiving from Ewing-Jarvie and the depth of their relationship.
The next couple of paragraphs of the HoS story add to the intrigue, but we shall refrain from repeating them. But it seems that Rodney Hide and his Chief of Staff were right to be concerned about the level of influence that Ewing-Jarvie was bringing to bear on Ms Roy. Her future as an MP does not look particularly bright. The fact that she is Act's only female MP is irrelevant as far as we are concerned.
This has been an incredibly damaging episode for Act, and it may be one from which they are unable to recover. Though we don't subscribe to a number of Act policies, they are still an important part of the National-led government - for the moment.
3 comments:
Well done for not repeating the next couple of paragraphs.
David
You're a true gentleman, IV2.
"But it seems that Rodney Hide and his Chief of Staff were right to be concerned about the level of influence that Ewing-Jarvie was bringing to bear on Ms Roy."
You what???
There were concerns with Roy's adviser, so ROY was sacked??
Explain please?
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