Winston and the ‘nuclear option’
The Dominion Post editorial is again about Winston Peters. The Hive – Tell the Truth Mr Peters and Keeping Stock- again “Tell the Truth Mr Peters ‘ both run the piece in full.
Adam agrees fully with the editorial.
These paragraphs are he thinks pivotal:-
Let us spell out some facts Mr Peters inexplicably cannot grasp. The pressure will not cease till he answers key questions about the existence and purpose of the Spencer Trust, a vehicle apparently used to pay some party bills, and why substantial donations to him and/or his party have not been declared as the law demands, especially since he apparently keeps assuring the prime minister he has done nothing illegal.
Mr Peters’ and NZ First’s ethics and honesty lie at the heart of this unsavoury mat ter. At the very least, he, his MPs and the party are guilty of gross hypocrisy. Official scrutiny might reveal if they are guilty of worse. ACT leader Rodney Hide has sought to involve the Serious Fraud Office and wanted Parliament’s privileges committee to hold an inquiry; the Speaker has agreed. Donor Sir Robert Jones says that if he does not get a straight answer about his $25,000 donation, he will involve police.
The childish game Mr Peters insists on playing at present means it is hard to conclude other than that he is a liar and that his actions or those of his party verge on the corrupt.
David Farrar at Kiwiblog suggests an initial list of questions which the Privileges Committee might like to consider.
No doubt there will be other questions. It will be interesting to see what the Privileges Committee actually considers, that is of course if the House does not rise before it starts to consider the matter.
Adam then wondered if Winston might be considering what might be considered the nuclear option, if he has any concerns about the Privileges reference – though his arrogance may preclude any such concerns.
Would it not be In WInston Peters interest for the election to be called now?
So that the Privileges issue falls by the wayside.
After the election dust settles he may be needed by either Labour or National, thus meaning everyone will seek to bury the issue.
Winston has nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking the nuclear option.
So it might make sense for him not to give the Government confidence and supply.
He will be able to campaign beating his nasty populist drum and not have had to explain himself.
UPDATE 16:00 hours 6 August: Jafapete in his comment below points out a flaw in my logic, in fact a significant one. Clearly whoever Winston did not get into bed with would cry foul and seek to re-open the whole issue.
Though WInston could still go nuclear as he probably does not have anything to lose at this point – and the privileges issue would die, and he has proved he is prepared to ride out the moral and ethical clamour. Then it would depend on whether either Labour or National would be prepared to find a formula whereby they could hold their noses enough to work with him.
On that point if he cannot be found to have done anything illegal then he might just squeak through.
Surely Winston faces a nuclear option of his own. If he sufficiently damages himself with either Labour or National prior to the election, he brings the technical voting option into play, ie, that voters won’t go with him because such a vote will be wasted. Such voters might prefer the Maori Party or realign with the other parties.
JC
On reflection, I think you are right re after the dust settles.
Though I am not sure that he would not go the nuclear route in any event.
“After the election dust settles he may be needed by either Labour or National, thus meaning everyone will seek to bury the issue.”
Adam, I think that you’ve really got that one wrong, and the consequences are huge. The motivations are subtlely different in each case but essentially the same: in the event that Peters gets to the election in one piece and then finds himself in a pivotal role, the party that doesn’t get into government with him will have many reasons to open the whole thing up again, surely?