The Grosser reversal

The Government has done a total u-turn on Tim Grosser. From calling him a traitor, and demanding he stop all WTO work immediately, they are now saying they will resource him to carry on as chair of the WTO Agriculture Negotiating Group until nominations day.

Normally u-turns are because they have polled on an issue, but this one was so fast they must have worked some things out for themselves.

I suspect their thought process was:

1) We should have never called him a traitor out loud as that looks bad. We should have suggested it to friendly media instead.

2) There will now be lots of attention as to whether he stays on or not. Media may start asking other countries if they want him to remain. And most will say yes.

3) A replacement Chair has to have unanimous support, so any move to oust him could well fail.

4) So he is likely to carry on, yet with no support from NZ Government he will be having to crash on the couch at the Aussie’s place, finance his own expenses, and work without pay for several months.

5) He will become a national hero working unpaid to serve NZ, and the Government will look like a nasty piece of work putting politics ahead of the national interest.

6) Reverse decision Mr Sutton