Two positive pieces in The Herald today on Andrew Little’s leadership. First:
Has Key met his match?
More than half see potential in new Labour top man
The public’s honeymoon with new Labour leader Andrew Little is showing few signs of easing more than two months after he was chosen to lead a divided party.
A 3 News Reid-Research poll has revealed 55 per cent of voters think Little is potentially a better match for Prime Minister John Key than his Labour Party leader predecessors.
The poll, which has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 per cent, is part of a series of polls on the post-election political situation that will be broadcast on 3 News tonight. 3 News political editor Patrick Gower said the poll result was a huge boost for Little.
Early days yet, but things still going well for Andrew Little’s leadership. I wouldn’t expect any big movements in the 3 News poll tonight, but that 55% positive support for Little is good news.
Rodney Hide penned the second piece:
Little captures our attention
…
Little’s speech was more interesting [than Key’s] by far. … And here’s the money quote: “As a union leader I was always conscious that wealth had to be created first before it could be shared. We need to do what’s right for business so we can do what’s right for workers and their families and to keep skills in New Zealand.” Little recognises the need to create wealth before it can be spent.
As did the Labour leaders before him, who all produced surplus budget policies.
And he acknowledges that business creates wealth – and, by implication, not Government. That’s a big statement from a Labour leader. He told us how as union leader he helped business to help workers and their families. He’s not a “worker-versus-business” guy. He worked with Fonterra to achieve productivity gains and so boost the pay to workers and farmers. The bit about farmers is important. He understands the economy is interconnected and farmers are part of his economic equation. It’s all good news.
Little spoke of reducing inequality. Good. And even here he was interesting: he says the spin-off of reducing inequality is better growth. That, too, would be better for business and farmers.
Reducing inequality is better for growth. If only the Nats understood this too.
Jobs and growth are his focus. And small business. That sets him apart from Key who, in his deals with Warner Bros, SkyCity and Rio Tinto, is tied to the big end of town.
And so on.
Now I know some are reading some Machiavellian “reverse psychology” intentions into Hide’s support, but I think they overestimate both his complexity and his influence. I take the comments at face value, that Andrew Little’s leadership is receiving broad-based support. And that’s good news, because that’s what we need for the Left (as a whole!) to win.
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