Key shrugs off Winston, politely
PM politely but firmly shuts the door.
Hot Topic
Budget 25
Prime Minister John Key politely but firmly shut the door on Winston Peters today.
The way in which it was done is an illustration of Mr Key’s political style: previous prime ministers would have taken the opportunity to heap on the hyperbolic obloquy. A Helen Clark, a Jenny Shipley, a Jim Bolger, a David Lange, a Rob Muldoon would have erupted with terms like “wrecker.”
Mr Key, almost with a shrug of his shoulders, just said “nothing has changed” since he ruled out working with Mr Peters in the run up to the 2008 election.
This isn’t just a matter of Mr Key being a nice guy: it gives Mr Peters and his followers less to work with. Not for the first time, Mr Key leaves his opponents punching air.
“I want to lead a positive aspirational government and I don’t think that is possible with Winston Peters,” was the strongest comment Mr Key would make about the one-time National MP, along with the throwaway line that New Zealanders are ”sick of games” although when invited to say whether he thought Mr Peters played games he said he would leave journalists to pronounce on that issue.
But in case anyone missed the message, “if Mr Peters holds the balance of power, it will be a Phil Goff-led Labour government.”
Mr Key’s announcement the election date will be November 26 – returning the country to the traditional last-Saturday-in-November date after a 25-year absence – was more of a surprise, this early in the year.
No one can recall any prime minister announcing the date so early in the year.
But Mr Key framed the announcement around the Rugby World Cup and the potential it has for New Zealand.
He is – in his role as both prime minister and also Minister of Tourism - selling the cup hard.
“Biggest ever event hosted in New Zealand,” “a chance to show off the country to literally billions of viewers worldwide,” “third largest sporting event in the world” and “big year for New Zealand” were just some of the prime minister’s comments.
But the reason for announcing the election date this far out was to avoid politics tainting the Rugby World Cup – at least, no more than is necessary.
Rob Hosking
Wed, 02 Feb 2011
Wed, 02 Feb 2011
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Key shrugs off Winston, politely
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