Stuff is reporting that John Key is signalling for Aaron Gilmore to stand down.
Prime Minister John Key says he can’t “reconcile” Aaron Gilmore’s text messages with his version of events of a boozy diner and has signalled he should stand down.
He contacted party president Peter Goodfellow this morning.
He can’t sack Gilmore from Parliament. But the move is a strong signal to Gilmore to step down.
“I find them difficult to reconcile with the version of events that Mr Gilmore gave my office … I said at the time if I found it difficult to reconcile those events I’ll treat this as a serious matter.”
This morning the National Party was shown text messages from Gilmore that appear to contradict assurances he gave Key.
What are Gilmore’s options?
He can try to tough it out and stay.
He can possibly stay as an independent like Brendon Horan, although this may require Key to remove him from the National caucus.
Or he can quit parliament.
The next on National Party’s list look to be Paul Foster-Bell Claudette Hauiti.*
Key won’t want any period of uncertainty that threatens his government’s thin majority.
What are the implications of Key’s latest statement?
[update]
Claudette Hauiti, in a 3 News article from August 2011, on her being a newby on National’s list, headlines her as: Lesbian, Maori, ex-Labour. Moving a little beyond the sensationalist, stereotyping headline, we learn …. little:
Ms Hauiti says “I’m not made up of one particular thing, I’m made up of many things….my iwitanga…I’m also an urban Maori, I’m also a business woman…I’m also a mother and all those things help build a very strong character for the National Party”.
“I’ve had an excellent run to become the candidate for Mangere. I’ve had exceptional support,” she says.
National is struggling to shake its reputation as a boys’ club with only 16 of its 57 MPs being female.
We learn more from Express Online:
After I got my degree in journalism, I worked at TVNZ and they made me a political reporter. I’ve always had a background in politics and current affairs. I was also the producer of Eye To Eye with Willie Jackson, but all the programming I do has some political slant to it, whether it be subtle or not too subtle.
Although I’m considered socially liberal, economically I’m quite conservative and that has been because of my family background. My father has always been economically independent and insisted upon being independent of state funding. Having said that, we had always been Labour supporters and under the Labour party we got our first state house, but my parents worked very hard to buy it. I was brought up on the ethic of self-determination and self-reliance.
Hauiti was the 2011 National candidate for Mangere.
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