Carter comes out swinging

Chris Carter has made a Lazarus-like return to the hallowed halls of Parliament, and his message to Phil Goff is clear; he's fighting Goff's move to expel him from the Labour Party. The Herald reports:

A statement issued by Chris Carter today suggests he is preparing to fight his expulsion from the Labour Party on the basis that he is still loyal to it.

"My dispute is not with the Labour Party but with the currently parliamentary leadership," he said.

That's interesting. We would have expected that during Carter's two-month hiatus (has it REALLY been that long?) that the Labour Party would have taken steps to resolve the issues with him that led to him taking stress leave.

Apparently not. It seems clear that there is still an enormous gulf between Carter and Goff, and that neither of them has any intention of backing away from a fully-fledged disciplinary hearing. At the end of the day, that can only mean bad news for Phil Goff.

Why do we say that? Well, Chris Carter is already damaged goods. There is no way that he can be a credible member of any future administration. He has nothing whatsoever to lose in fighting the move to expel him.

On the other hand, Phil Goff has everything to lose. He was tasked with the job of rebuilding the parliamentary Labour Party. To date his leadership has been dogged by gaffes - the Neelam Choudary affair, Axe the Tax (when Labour isn't axeing any taxes!), and expenses scandals to name just three, and his polling as preferred Prime Minister has only recently ventured beyond the margin of error. In addition, it seems that Carter's attack line about moves to oust Goff was not at all inaccurate.

For Phil Goff, this Mexican stand-off needed to be resolved quickly and decisively. Two months on, Carter has returned to Parliament, and nothing has changed; both men are still entrenched in their respective positions. It's messy, and it does nothing to diminish the widely-held perception that Goff is merely a seat-warmer.