Someone just sent me this. It’s an editorial from the Ashburton Guardian on Brian Connell’s firing resignation.
Particularly over matters of Electoral Finance the Nats have sought to position themselves as “defenders of free speech”. Perhaps more accurately: “free speech as long as it’s Brethren speech”. This editorial suggests that the protections the Nats would extend to the extreme religious right might not reach as far as some of their own MPs.
[Brian Connell] didn’t like the party line, spoke out and was tossed out. While Parliament’s debating chamber might frequently become like an out of control classroom, its members like ill disciplined students, the Connell suspension did not follow the school line.
…Brian Connell had a falling out with then party leader Don Brash. He did not abide by the classroom rules and he was suspended. His suspension was infinite. It didn’t matter that the teacher changed & Brash became Key, it didn’t matter that the origins of the original falling out were blurred by time, suspension subtly became expulsion.
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