So long Richard

Richard Long, who has served as chief of staff to both Don Brash and Bill English, is retiring. Richard served for many years as Editor of the Dominion (not the Dominion Post!) and was employed by Bill in late 2002. The fact that Don kept him on, spoke for itself.

Richard was my boss for 18 months or so and a great guy to work for. Many former staff (including from the Dominion) said the same. And not just because he had one of the best wine collections around!

As well as being a nice guy, he was also very good at his job. The role of COS can be a difficult one as it requires someone who is both a good manager of people, and also someone with good political judgement. Quite a few had one but not the other, so Richard did well as he had heaps of experience with both.

The same article notes that Lindsay Tisch is moving up to Senior Whip. Not sure who will become Junior Whip – possibly a former MP who returned this election?

And in a related story, the Dominion Post notes that Mike Munro is also likely to retire next year, and that the Greens’ Michael Appleton is off to MFAT. Michael played a key role, from what I know, in getting Frog Blog started.