An anonymous editorial in The Herald this morning is a mostly well balanced discussion of the issue of Labour’s deputy leader:
Little facing dilemma over deputy choice
Labour’s leader, Andrew Little, faces a dilemma over what sort of deputy he needs. Probably he would be happy to retain the party’s present deputy, Annette King, but he said a year ago the position would be re-opened about now. Ms King has been excellent in the role – loyal, experienced, sensible in public statements, liked and respected by friend and foe, a safe pair of hands. …
But whether Mr Little likes it or not, there is much interest in the possible promotion of Jacinda Ardern. She is young, presentable and appears to have a popular following. A political party in Labour’s predicament cannot afford to let her appeal go to waste. …
Labour needs to project the image of a fresh, new potential government. Ms Ardern can help project that image. Ms King cannot. …
“Fresh” and new vs “experienced” and well respected – a case to be made each way. I don’t think Labour can go wrong, they are both excellent choices, and either would fully support the other whatever decision is made.
Our anonymous editorialist then gets a bit more speculative:
The bigger problem for Mr Little may be that Ms Ardern probably projects that image better than he does, and the last thing he needs is a deputy whose promotion might cause her to be seen as a rival to himself. Ms Ardern no doubt would deny any wish to replace him, and mean it, but if her public reception was much better than his, she would be a contender.
Jacinda has already sincerely and convincingly denied any wish to be leader, and I’m pretty sure that Labour has no appetite at all for another leadership process prior to the next election! So, let’s see the deputy leadership resolved, and a united Labour team getting down to the hard work of the next two years…
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