Further thoughts on L’Affaire Choudary

Reflecting further upon Tracy Watkins article in today’s Dominion Post and L’Affaire Choudary we find that Ms Watkins, apart from picking Phil Goff as Wally of the Week, wrote as follows:-

Chiselling away at Mr Key’s political management over the earlier allegations wasn’t. Was it a coincidence that Mr Goff’s phone call weeks after the alleged harassment stopped came not long after the first signs that Dr Worth was becoming a ministerial liability?

Basically not a bad attack strategy for Goff, yet other timeline revelations tend to suggest Goff knew much more than he has said.

Mr Goff says it took that long for the woman to summon the courage to have her case put before the prime minister. But Mr Goff overplayed his hand. First by insisting on the moral high ground by claiming that it was Mr Key, not himself, who placed the harassment allegations in the public arena. Taken at face value he is right but Mr Key only referred to the matter publicly after he was confronted with informed questions by a journalist. Clearly someone wanted the information out there. It comes down to who would benefit most.

Now that is interesting! Did Goff or one of his minions leak, so as to maximise damage. This is also first MSM reference that suggests that it was not loose talk as such by Key, but a response to a journalist’s question.

Then Tracy Watkins dissects Goff more finely:-

Meanwhile Mr Goff milked the woman’s status as an immigrant who was confused and distraught at Dr Worth’s intentions. When first asked by The Dominon Post if he knew the woman before she came to him, Mr Goff agreed he had, but only for a short time. By the next day, he had put it out there that she was a Labour Party member.

Boy did he milk it. Encouraged in his milking it must be said by some extremely co-operative media.

When she was revealed this week as Auckland woman Neelam Choudary, it became clear she was no low-level member. She is prominent in Auckland Labour Party circles. The image of a frightened and traumatised woman doesn’t square with the recollections of reporters who came across her regularly on the campaign trail with Helen Clark.

Yet until this article and one by John Armstrong the media pack has tended to follow the Goff line, quite slavishly.

Ms Watkins suggests that Goff’s attack line has not met with full approval by some in his team. Further she suggests that by focusing on Choudary, Goff ignored the potential to attack in other areas. In other words she says Goff’s political instincts went missing in action.

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