Rodney Hide tipped to quit
Intense speculation surrounds Rodney Hide's future as Act Party leader, with sources suggesting he could go as early as today.
Rodney Hide is likely to resign as leader of the Act Party and it could happen as early as today, sources tell NBR.
Mr Hide faces a leadership challenge from former National Party leader Don Brash, who says the Act Party faces electoral oblivion without his leadership.
Dr Brash, who plans to set up his own party if his leadership fails, also wants former Auckland mayor John Banks (his former colleague at Huljich Wealth Management) to stand for Act in the crucial Epsom seat currently held by Mr Hide.
However, Dr Brash is not yet a member of Act and has to give the party seven days notice of his leadership challenge.
Speculation is running wild about Mr Hide's future as Act leader: the iPredict contract on whether he will depart before the general election has been the subject of a frenzy of trading since Dr Brash's public challenge.
More than 1600 trades have been made so far today, dwarfing the average daily volume of 38.3 trades.
The price on the contract hit 80c early on – indicating an 80% chance Mr Hide will be rolled before the election - before dropping back towards 70c.
iPredict, which actively encourages insider trading in its contracts, has a successful prediction rate of more than 90%.
A spokesman for Mr Hide's office said there were no press conferences scheduled for today.
Niko Kloeten
Wed, 27 Apr 2011
Wed, 27 Apr 2011
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Rodney Hide tipped to quit
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