What do Henry Jackson and Sam Uffindell have in common? On the surface, not a lot, but Sam Uffindell may well break Henry Jackson’s ignominious record as New Zealand’s shortest serving MP.
According to Wikipedia:
Henry Arthur Franklin Jackson (1830 – 29 October 1906) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament (M.H.R.) in Wellington, New Zealand.
He represented the Hutt electorate from the 1879 by-election to the 1879 general election. His period of service was 2 July to 15 August, the shortest period of any New Zealand MP. Jackson was sworn in on 11 July 1879 when the fourth session of the sixth parliament started. The sixth parliament was dissolved on 11 August 1879.
He died in Lower Hutt in 1906.
Wikipedia
Sam Uffindell was sworn in on 2 August 2022, and is just 9 days into what may well turn out to be a record-beating short tenure as the MP for Tauranga. He has to hold out for 36 more days to avoid the record.
He will be hoping that no more allegations rear their head or he will be toast before the inquiry even begins.
What is more concerning is that Christopher Luxon looks like the proverbial possum in the headlights. He hasn’t yet realised that politics is nothing at all like being an order taker for Unilever or the CEO of a small airline in a global tourism boom.
He thinks, like all narcissists, that if he can just keep on talking for a bit longer then he will be able to convince you of the tenuous merits of his explanations.
Thomas Coughlan at the NZ Herald says Sam Uffindell is likely toast. He’s probably right. But Coughlan’s article is also a trap, to con a big tit like Luxon into continuing to talk. Luxon is so vain that he will believe Coughlan saying that he has done a good job. He won’t realise it is a media trap to keep talking.
Luxon’s let’s blame the staffer tactic is also falling on deaf ears. Everyone knows that the hierarchy (and yes that includes Luxon) knew about all this stuff before it hit the proverbial fan. Blaming staff is the very tactic that poor leaders use when attempting to deflect from their own culpability. He needs take a leaf out of Harry S Truman’s book: to paraphrase, “The buck stops here”.
Of course, he won’t do any such thing. People like him prance through life never taking responsibility for the shit that follows them.
But there is some hope. John MacDonald from Newstalk has written a piece contrasting Luxon’s handling of the Uffindell affair with that of Ardern not handling the walking disaster that is Trevor Mallard. The funniest part of all that was Grant Robertson waxing lyrical about MacDonald in the house.
I just bet that Robertson will have yet another boisterous argument with Ardern, an occurrence that I’m told is increasing in frequency when she learns about his gaffe in Parliament.
I think all this scandal was designed by Labour to undermine National’s stance on law and order. It’s a bit hard to oppose the repeal of three strikes when you have someone who got off scot-free from a pretty serious schoolboy assault case. I don’t think it is to do with the latest poll as several polls have pointed to Labour falling in popularity.
Also, the media just like making king hits on the National Party, especially Kirsty Johnston, who broke the story. The rest of the media just followed. They’ve known about all this since at least June and before the by-election.
However, Luxon is making a meal out of it. He hasn’t the cunning like a long-term politician. He needs to keep his mouth shut. If he doesn’t then he is going to wind up looking like a big tit.
Kerre Woodham on NewstalkZB said, “you’d have to wonder if there’s someone high up in the National Party who is a Labour mole,” and based on their propensity to lurch from one stupid error to the next, you’d have to start thinking that was true. Maybe Luxon is that Manchurian Candidate, but in reality, it could be any one of them.
But one thing is for sure, people inside National do have a tedious habit of chatting or emailing with left-wing protagonists.
National needs to seriously stop talking about this, and fast. The fact they aren’t suggests poor advice from the likes of Willis and Bishop, who just love the sound of their own voices. Willis has an axe to grind, and she will be hoping Luxon fails badly so she can step up and drown National with even more wetness.
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