Get well John

Occasionally one hears a retiring MP described as someone who was genuinely liked by MPs from all parties, and without an enemy in the House. This description is very fit for Northland MP John Carter who quite simply is a great guy. I worked with John closely over many years, and also was fortunate enough to have enjoyed some of his hospitality in the Wairarapa. My liver took some weeks to recover!

Anyway everyone who knows John will be wishing him well as he recovers from surgery for bowel cancer. Luckily it was detected early and John plans to be back on deck fairly soon.

John is probably the only person in Parliament to have ever got away with (and it was an accident) accusing Labour of planning a cunning stunt, yet he mispronounced it in a way which was most unparliamentary. I’ve never seen the Speaker actually almost fall out of his chair in laughter in before!