Maori Party angry at Labour

TV3 reported tonight how angry the Maori Party was at Labour, for their role in publicising the allegations against Derek Fox. It seems a staffer for Shane Jones was circulating copies of the article in Truth to journalists before it was even published. That strongly suggests they were working with the newspaper to get the story out there.

Labour are desperate to have Parekura Horomia retain his seat, but they may win the battle but lose the war. Tariana Turia was making it pretty clear that they would find it very hard to work with Labour after the election, because of this. To quote TV3:

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says Labour has all but blown its chances of a coalition deal at the next election.

So with NZ First and United Future saying they will give first preference to the biggest party, and not even the Greens yet willing to commit to Labour that means their only friend right now is the Jim Anderton Party.