The Blame Game

Helen is looking for people to blame over the fact the budget was a fizzer. And has decided it is the media’s fault.

You see Helen says that Labour President Mike Williams never said “There’s something in the Budget that is referred to as the deep, dark secret”. Helen says that Mr Williams had the words ‘deep dark secret’ put to him by the NZ Herald and then attributed to him.

Helen has really developed a bad track record when it comes to her view of events vs the media view. And this time they have kept the tapes. And what do the tapes say:

In the taped interview on the threshold issue, Mr Williams told the Herald: “I haven’t heard any discussion about it at all. I mean there is some deep, dark secret in the Budget which keeps getting referred to as the deep, dark secret. Whether that’s it I just don’t know.”

The tape confirms the Herald reporter never used the phrase.

So the PM was either misled by Mr Williams, or told a(nother) porkie.