Hide opens door for Winston?

Written By: - Date published: 12:01 pm, January 23rd, 2010 - 14 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, nz first - Tags: , , , ,

Eddie has already covered the story of Hide giving the middle finger to the people of Franklin regarding the Supercity.

Franklin is Tory heartland. However the current local National MP for Hunua, the underwhelming Dr Paul Hutchinson, has consistently been taken to pieces over his government’s decision to destroy the district. Locals are furious with National’s arrogant approach to their community.

Buried in the Herald article we hear someone from the group Franklin.4.Democracy threaten that going against what local community wanted might have “unintended consequences” for the National Party.

Too right. Enter Winston Peters?

You see, Winston’s initial political home was the Hunua electorate he first won in 1978. The old tusker is itching to get back into parliament to extract revenge on those who tormented him during the last parliament.

What better way than winning a local electorate you have a historical link to, saddled with a lacklustre MP (unlike Tauranga), with a community that is furious with the current government, who will reluctantly go through a local body election year where this issue will dominate, who will wake up in the 2011 general election year with a Supercity-sized hangover and the possibility of ongoing local government service issues, whose conservative voters have long memories and could well return Winston to centre stage?

In a delicious piece of irony Rodney Hide might have opened the door for his nemesis to come full circle, return to national politics and knock the NACT government off its perch.

14 comments on “Hide opens door for Winston? ”

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  1. outofbed 1
    23 January 2010 at 12:16 pm

    Hutchinson got 64.41% of the vote last time.
    he can afford to loose 50% of his vote to WP and still win

  2. todd 2
    23 January 2010 at 12:54 pm

    Winston wins Hunua Yeah Right

  3. Sandip 3
    23 January 2010 at 12:58 pm

    For this govt to be thrown off its perch then the commie Labour party will need to poll more than the low 20’s which is where they are headed. After the blood filled leadership coup takes place, and lets face it we all know its coming, the commies could be polling in the low teens. Winston or no Winston Labour are going to need more than an old school bigot to help them out.

    • Mac1 3.1
      23 January 2010 at 1:45 pm

      Love that 50’s rhetoric, Sandip.

      I appreciate your political prediction that the leader of the government is going to be the victim of a coup. So head chook John Keys is getting the chop you reckon? The revitalised NACT government will then be so unpopular that the Communists will poll in the teens, up from less than one per cent?

      If you actually read what you wrote, that is what you said.

      As I said, love that fifties rhetoric. Kill a Commie for Christ. The only good Commie is one that’s dead.

      And thanks for the offer to help Labour.

    • the pinkpostman 3.2
      23 January 2010 at 2:11 pm

      Oh dear we are not back to Commie bashing are we?
      I thought that went out in the 1970s.Where ever do these people like Sandslip come from.? Do they know anything about Communism ? As a commited Socialist I am against the Communist Phliosophy, However having said that let us remember that it wqs the Communists in the UK who fought for working peoples rights.That it was the “commos ” who with the socialists went to fight the Facists in the Spanish Civil war while the majority of Tories backed Mussolini and Hitler in their fight against the Left , unionism , and worker rights .. Read a bit of history Sandslip and if you want to critizise Labour at lest use an intelligent augument not worn out name calling . Its also rather strange that you should use the Commie augument because it has started to be used by a lot of Tory commentators recently..

      • Draco T Bastard 3.2.1
        23 January 2010 at 5:36 pm

        I thought that went out in the 1970s.Where ever do these people like Sandslip come from.?

        I think you answered your own question.

        Do they know anything about Communism ?

        Nope, they haven’t got a friggen clue.

  4. Peter Bilson 4
    23 January 2010 at 1:15 pm

    is this the same Winston Peters who used the still warm corpse of his dead mother (she died earlier that day on the Friday in July 2008) to go on National TV and lie to the public about what he knew about Owen Glenn & the donation saga for sympathy?

  5. felix 5
    23 January 2010 at 1:17 pm

    Who says Winston would align himself with Labour anyway?

    His roots are all National, he’s been in coalition with both parties but spent more of his political life in government with National than anyone else and his views on social issues generally line up more with National.

    Labour supporters certainly shouldn’t be including him in their mental calculations of left wing numbers and National supporters should be aware that their glorious leader would jump in bed with Winnie in a heartbeat if the numbers were right regardless of what he’s said in the past – we know he has no problem with unannounced u-turns – and that’s the scenario Hide should really be concerned about.

    All conjecture of course, but if history teaches us anything at all about Peters it’s that he shouldn’t be taken for granted and anything is possible.

  6. BLiP 6
    23 January 2010 at 2:31 pm

    Well, there goes my theory: I had Winston down for Auckland Super Mayor.

  7. Anne 7
    23 January 2010 at 7:29 pm

    Ouch!
    Anti-spam word “dead”.
    Could be appropriate but who’s dead? Winston or Rodney?

    • prism 7.1
      24 January 2010 at 11:31 am

      Are our random antispam words being regarded as prescient? I wonder what today will bring – go to The Standard and see what word the kaleidoscope computer choice throws up. It is uncanny how often they seem to relate directly to what is being written.

      This time the word is rewrite. Maybe its telling me that what I’m writing will make someone throw up! Or maybe the next election will rewrite Hide and ACT’s history. Great hope. But then where would the soul-destroyed dollars for eyeballs men and women gather. Better perhaps to have them where they can be seen and monitored.

  8. tc 8
    24 January 2010 at 10:56 am

    More like Hide opens door for a change of gov’t…….hunua, waitakere, mangaikeke, northcote etc could all easily be taken by Labour on the shafting of aucklanders Hides engineering.

    The mans arrogance is breathtaking so he’s obviously sorted his future beyond politics already (I’m guessing some privatised water providers or similar) as I can’t see Nat rolling over in Epsom again to usher ACT back.

    The trojan horse isn’t winston for NACT it’s themselves and the electorate waking up to how they’ve been duped over reform/S59/EFA/tax cuts etc and if Johnny clown raises GST then it’s all over rover.

    I meet alot of folk who voted Nat because they knew no better, not having lived in NZ until 2000 onwards, a quick history lesson on the last 2 nat gov’t prior to Key’s mob and you’d be amazed how quickly they realise they were well and truly dupped.

    They know it and that’s why supercity is fast tracked, Key’s left to shore up the easy popularity votes, urgency/secrecy is their best friend etc as they hope to repeat the con job in 2011.

  9. Zaphod Beeblebrox 9
    24 January 2010 at 11:25 am

    There seems to be a direct inverse relationship between oppoisition to Hide and distance from the Auckland CBD. Fortunately for Hide his electorate is right in the centre of town.

    Would be interested to see how different this process would have been if Paula Bennett, Judith Collins or Lockwood Smith for example were Local Government minister.

    What also would be interesting is if someone did a poll in the Helensville electorate. Be interested to see if a big drop in National vote would have much affect on Key’s attitude.

    I suspect it would. As everyone knows the best way to influence politicians who aren’t listening is to hit them where it hurts.

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