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Tell Liz you can’t make it, John

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, September 7th, 2010 - 28 comments
Categories: Minister for Overseas Holidays - Tags:

I didn’t want to be the first to say it. Since John Armstrong now has, I will ask the question too: why the hell is the John Key planning to go for a holiday weekend with the Queen and a chat with his carbon-copy David Cameron when our second-largest city is a disaster zone? It seems he doesn’t appreciate the responsibilities of his job and just wants to be Minister for Overseas Holidays.

Update: Since I wrote this post Key has announced he is cancelling his trip to Europe. I never thought I’d say this but, good stuff Mr. Key.

28 comments on “Tell Liz you can’t make it, John ”

  1. joe bloggs 1

    Sucker – John Key has already beaten you to the punch and told Liz he couldn’t make it.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10671659

    so much for your bullshit about the Ministry for Overseas Holidays

    • bbfloyd 1.1

      jb..so much for any intellectual pretensions you might have had. do you really think that poking your tongue at people and going nyaa nyaa is acceptable? or is your attention span so limited that you can’t actually read more than a paragraph before rushing into another childish gesture?

    • blighty 1.2

      Here’s Key yeserday afternoon.

      “A note about my official visit to the United Kingdom and France. At this stage it’s my intention to continue with this and leave on Friday night. By then I hope to be confident that all the recovery processes will be in place.”

      One article from Armstrong threatening political damage was enough to change his mind

    • Blighty 1.3

      Key yesterday:

      “A note about my official visit to the United Kingdom and France. At this stage it’s my intention to continue with this and leave on Friday night. By then I hope to be confident that all the recovery processes will be in place.”

      On article from Armstrong was threat enough to change his mind. Question is, why was he even thinking of going yesterday? Shows what he really wants to do.

    • Draco T Bastard 1.4

      Interesting…

      Eddie posts at 10:00
      JB posts at 10:16
      and the NZHerald article says it was posted @ 11:14

      So, did JB manage to get hold of a Time Machine or did the Granny edit the story without telling anyone or did they just not wind their clocks back when daylight saving ended?

      • joe bloggs 1.4.1

        Interesting…

        hmmm… just what connections does that dastardly JB share with JK’s inner sanctum to know such stuff????

        Not many – the Herald actually posted the story as an ‘update’ at 10.00am – ironically the very same minute that Eddie stuffed both its feet in its mouth.

        God knows what happened at the Herald at 11:14am – and she ain’t telling

  2. Bunji 2

    Oop, and cancelled. Looks like he was just waiting to see if anyone would call him on it…

  3. Pascal's bookie 3

    Ha!

    At his weekly post-Cabinet press conference late yesterday afternoon Mr Key had said he would only leave if he could be confident Christchurch’s recovery was on track.

    Does the Prime Minister have confidence in his Minister for Earthquake Fixing up Afterwards?

    • Draco T Bastard 3.1

      Obviously not.

    • Cnr Joe 3.2

      his head-banger in chief could well cause more ructions and tremors in an already edgy community – needs watching
      heh – Brownlee might propose mining chch b4 rebuilding

  4. hurr 4

    “Mr Key said that the swarm of aftershocks last night in Christchurch had been a factor in his decision to call off the trip.”

    Bullshit. Key still wants to go

  5. smhead 5

    key couldn’t have gone with christchurch as a disaster. Remember when helen stayed overseas during the boxing day tsunami. Not a good look then, key learned from helen’s mistake.

    • joe bloggs 5.1

      yeah – I also remember when the Dalai Lama came to NZ and her royal highness went looking for sheep to avoid meeting with him…

      • smhead 5.1.1

        was that the dalai lama or the hikoi? I remember she wanted to see shrek rather than meet a huge protest, maybe that’s why key is so popular because he fronts up rather than media manage everything.

        • The Voice of Reason 5.1.1.1

          “…he fronts up rather than media manage everything.”

          Er, is your John Key the same one as we have here in NZ, smeggy? Last time I looked, our PM wouldn’t say a word on anything unless a focus group OK’d it and there was a live cross from TVNZ to record it.

        • bbfloyd 5.1.1.2

          smhead… are you really that stupid? (don)key doesn’t media manage everything? the utterly facile attempts at intelligent discussion coming from the nact apologists lately have me scared to drink the water in case there has been a dumbing down agent put in it. i don’t like to think that seemingly intelligent, normal people could spout the sort of drivel you just did.

        • Richard 5.1.1.3

          “front[ing] up” to the media is media managing.

          Every-time we see Key in the media, he is media managing. The more we see of him, the more media managing he is doing; particularly in the soft stage-managed media interviews he seems to always do.

          • kriswgtn 5.1.1.3.1

            Yeah cos no one in the media in NZ has the balls to really give beaker a hard out interview

            Its like**

            Oh dont ask questions that would paint me in a bad light cos i cant answer them truthfully**

            bah the media in this country is a joke

            And as for the fat man **Minister for Earthquake Fixing up Afterwards in charge of CHCH- oh fuk me sideways

            packing crates spring to mind

  6. ak 6

    Credit where credit’s due: no one gets the polls in or reacts to them quicker.

  7. U 4 United 7

    I heard him mutter to his aide on Saturday that it was unlikely he’d be going given the CHCH devastation.He was surrounded by the quake mess when it was said. It is the habituees of this blog who are vile enough to seek political gain.

    • The Voice of Reason 7.1

      Oh, really? You were that close that you heard him muttering to an aide. Really? The footage I saw on the TV suggested that apart from Parker and the bloke from Civil Defence there weren’t too many people around. Not surprising, what with a police cordon and all. Are you sure you aren’t the aide in question? Or are you just making it up?

    • gobsmacked 7.2

      U 4 United has a real scoop!

      John Key publicly stated on Monday afternoon that he still planned to go ahead with the trip. Quite reasonably, he has now changed hs mind, and won’t go. Fair enough.

      But … our Christchurch Correspondent, “U 4 United”, who has special access to the Prime Minister’s entourage, can EXCLUSIVELY reveal that John Key had, in fact, already decided it was “unlikely” that he would go, as early as Saturday. But 48 hours later, Key told us he was still going, and finally today he announced today that he wouldn’t go after all.

      So who has been fibbing? The Prime Minister, or “U 4 United”?

      My money’s on “U 4 United”, but it’s a close call.

      • Loota 7.2.1

        But 48 hours later, Key told us he was still going, and finally today he announced today that he wouldn’t go after all.

        Well, this is roughly how long it takes Crosby textor to pull together a focus group and analyse the results.

  8. ianmac 8

    The real reason for his going to see the Queen is to check on the readiness of the sword that she will use to dub him “Sir the Right Honourable Prime Minister John Key.”
    He has to ramp it up as we might become a Republic then it would be too late. Tough.

  9. Kris Gledhill 9

    I think you have got it wrong here: the events in Christchurch are not the sort of disaster that require the Prime Minister to sort them out, and so he should have gone abroad; you know full well that he will take credit and obtain lots of photo opportunities as a result, creating the impression that he is the only person holding the country together.

    • Lanthanide 9.1

      No, I think Key should stay. Looking at what has come out from government this afternoon, with the $15m fund for small businesses, there is still work to be done that the PM can be involved in.

  10. the sprout 10

    good outcome.
    had Key gone, he would have been pilloried.
    now that he’s staying nobody will give a toss, especially after he’s already left CH to watch the netball when the city was in acute need, and when he’s already expressed a preference to bugger off to hob-knob.
    now he’ll just look like a precious show pony.

  11. Arandar 11

    Has her Majesty sent a message of sympathy and support to the people of Christchurch? If she has I’ve not seen mention of it anywhere and I apologise for thinking ill, etc. But if not, why not? Just wondering… Antispam “contributions” yeah right.

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