So apparently, Shane Jones leaving is the end of the Labour Party.
Yawn.
Vernon Small screams, “Disarray. There is no other word to describe the mess the Labour Party plunged into last night” while John Armstrong predicts “resignation couldn’t have come at a worse time”.
The issue as they see it boiled down to Shane having this mythical smoko room blue collar cred, from Armstrong…
His departure is close to an unmitigated disaster for Labour. For starters, unlike the bulk of his colleagues, Jones could reach into segments of the vote – especially blue-collar males – who have switched off Labour. He was in the process of switching those traditional relationships back on.
…from Small…
If anything was designed to scream “crisis” it was this. Jones will be a serious loss to the party. He has strong blue collar crossover appeal to Pakeha and Maori, and in the regions.
…I’m sorry, but seriously – WTF? White middle class pundits proclaiming Jones’ supposed ‘blue collar cred’ demeans working class people while highlighting those pundits own ignorance. Shouldn’t these pundits trying to insinuate that sexist, anti-environmental views are ‘blue collar’ get called on that kind of lazy shit?
Effectively Small and Armstrong are suggesting that sexist bigotry and Green bashing appeals to a blue collar bigotry that apparently all working class people have.
The mythology that the working classes are some knuckle dragging group with social graces just above Neanderthals would not be acceptable if cast upon any one else, so how come all the negative traits of Jones are being held up by pundits as favourable to the working class?
The irony in all of this is that these are the same pundits constantly trying to claim that Cunliffe is a political charlatan who isn’t really left wing at all, the departure of the leader of the right wing faction within Labour clearly shows that claim up for the lie that it is.
Armstrong and Small’s headlines should read, ‘Cunliffe really is left, we were wrong’. I doubt somehow that will occur.
Martyn, I agree with you as to what the headline should have read. The problem with that sort of headline is that LEFT is perceived by many voters in the centre, those needed to win elections, as far left. Perception is everything, e.g. Judith Collins and Oravida, and I think the current Labour Party is giving that impression.
“The mythology that the working classes are some knuckle dragging group with social graces just above Neanderthals would not be acceptable if cast upon any one else, so how come all the negative traits of Jones are being held up by pundits as favourable to the working class?”
Well said.
“The irony in all of this is that these are the same pundits constantly trying to claim that Cunliffe is a political charlatan who isn’t really left wing at all”
Not so well. Cunliffe is a three faced yuppie pension pincher.
I always laugh when msm say he is a man of the working people. saw him come to a large south Auckland work site for photos. he didn’t want to meet any of the staff and instead opted to do all his socialising with senior management.
shame about the spin because this is one of the best things to happen to the labour party this year.
Better now Jones – away you go.
And why aren’t MSM covering this aspect?
The National Party via Wira Gardiner contributed towards Shane Jones’s Labour leadership campaign FFS. So, had Jones won instead of Cunliffe, National would have “owned” Jones AND Labour’s leadership. Is there no end to the totalitarian nasty tricks these Hollow Men will exhaust to exert their Machiavellian influence? What a disgusting nasty bunch these Tories are.
Once the contribution was outed, Jones resigned and they CREATE a sinecure for Jones as further payoff for “services rendered”. They won’t ban Legal Highs, but they create a Pan Pacific croney sinecure for Jones overnight. It takes the heat off Judith Collins. It eases the pressures on the corporates by Jones under Labour’s attacks on Countdown. What a disgusting nasty bunch these Tories are.
Good riddance Jones. You and your cronies need to go. Shane Jones now, the rest of your nasty Tories cronies in 149 days.
But the MSM won’t cover this angle, will it?
Gardiner was like Shane Jones on the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission, and he is part of the wider network that Shane Jones is associated with. They are with others of their ilk all part of the modern day, partly iwi linked, partly business connected “old boys network”, that exists in New Zealand. It is a fact that many politicians, and Jones is just one of them, have close connections to business and economic lobbyists, and hence they will always have job opportunities anywhere.
Jones is all about himself, in the end, that is also why he dumped his former wife and cuddled up with a new partner, and like a fish in comfortable waters, he will follow the opportunities and bait where-ever they are to be found.
A cushy job working for a newly created job as a kind of fisheries economic diplomat, paid by the taxpayer and government, having the job in the pocket before it has been decided on, that shows the true face of the New Zealand establishment and how they work.
Labour are still full of too many like Jones, and it is nothing to pity and cry about, to see such characters move on.
Shane has gone because he did not want to work with the Greens, but the Blues are OK? I had a lot of time for Shane Jones once, but now believe he was really full of crap. I think Shane is only interested in Shane. Labour is better off without him.
The fact that Shane Jones was so clear in his dislike of the Greens has lifted him several notches in my estimation. When the Greens were a small, fringe party, they had novelty value. As a potential coalition partner with the likes of Peters, Harawira and KDC, they are downright frightening.
Kelvin Davis hit nail firmly on head during 3 News debunking the myth that red blooded masculinity must be right wing and simplistic. Labour will be thanking Mc Cully shortly; making space for Davis while simultaneously getting rid of loose cannon. What a coup for the left !
Shane, shame for keeping up with the Joneses.
He might be able to grunt and fart like blue collar workers supposedly do, but in the end he’s a Harvard graduate who subscribes to neoliberalism. Nothing more than a corporate bully.
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