Te Atatu MP Chris Carter yesterday confirmed he intended seeing out his current term of office and was not looking elsewhere for work.
Labour Party sources have been reported as saying Mr Carter, who is on two months' sick leave from Parliament after being outed as the writer of an anonymous letter undermining his leader Phil Goff last month, had indicated he planned to resign, triggering a byelection.
The sources also claimed Mr Carter had approached the Labour Party for help in finding another job.
Yesterday, Mr Carter denied both claims.
"At this point in time I'm happy to continue being the MP for Te Atatu and I will be working hard for my constituents" he told TVNZ News as he left an Auckland gym.
Mr Carter also said he had not approached Labour or anybody else about a job.
So who might the "Labour Party sources" referred to in the story be? Let's get realistic here; who in the Labour Party is the keenest to see the back of Chris Carter (in a political sense, of course)? Did you guess Phil Goff? Yes, so did we. Conversely, who has the most to lose by Chris Carter remaining on the sidelines, undermining the leadership?
We are of the opinion that the "Labour Party sources" mentioned in the Herald's story might be very close indeed to the Labour leader's office. They could even be as close as Phil Goff's chief press secretary Kris Faafoi, who yesterday confirmed that he will seek the nomination for the Mana electorate.
All this makes Labour's supposed empathy for the little guy, for the worker a nonsense. Chris Carter defied the leadership, and for that he must be punished. Labour is certainly not acting in good faith towards Chris Carter, or as a good employer would be expected to act. What's most ironic of course, is that thus far, everything Chris Carter alleged in his letter has come to pass.
Chris Carter was right. Phil Goff is unelectable.
1 comments:
Carter is supposedly out of the Labour caucus and has had `the whip' withdrawn.
Perhaps sympathisers in the caucus will keep him informed and like a termite he will continue to eat away at the whole package.
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