Tim Grosser

I am delighted to hear the news that Tim Grosser will be a National MP after the election. Tim spoke to a Young Nats conference in the early to mid 90s on GATT/WTO issues (he was our chief negotiator) and everyone there was hugely impressed with him.

Grosser has had a great reputation, and was no small player in some of the multi-lateral trade deals which were worth billions to NZ. This man is a very very talented person, who has achieved great things for NZ.

It is appalling to have Labour’s Jim Sutton accuse such a loyal civil srervant of betrayal, simply for deciding to stand for Parliament. As No Right Turn points out, this is hypocrisy when you consider the huge number of civil servants which stand for Labour.

In fact Sutton’s reaction displays the arrogance all too common with this Government. We see this with Clark also – that not backing the *Labour* Government is somehow unpatriotic.

If Jim Sutton really cared about putting NZ ahead of partisan politics, then he would allow Tim Grosser to continue the work he is doing until the day he has to stand down (20 – 27 days before the election).