Mr Speaker

I have on various occasions been critical of Mr Speaker, to the point that my last week in Parliament was spent with me avoiding him after I compared him to a South African Rigby Referee.

Now this has never been based on personal dislike. It has always been based on how he has conducted himself in his duties.

Now for the Speaker to be using a term such as “played the race card”, which is code for “is a racist” to describe Dr Brash, just confirms everything I have ever said. It is highly inappropriate for the Speaker to use such terms in a mass form letter.

Quite simply the role of Speaker and the role of personal advisor to the PM are incompatible.