Little confirmed as President

The Herald reports Andrew Little is the only candidate for Labour Party President.

I think it is safe to assume that Labour will now run a smarter campaign in 2011, than in 2008 – and that Andrew will never be found in Melbourne trying to dig up dirt personally on John Key.

Andrew is remaining EPMU national secretary. If the EFA had not been abolished, it would have been interesting to see a third party headed up by a political party’s president. Almost worth a court case 🙂

Andrew will also have a sensitive juggling act. As Labour’s president he wants the Government to fail at things like oh the jobs summit. However as EPMU national secretary he wants the jobs summit to actually produce some good outcomes, that will help his members. Potential conflicts between the two jobs will no doubt be scrutinised. Of course, many people have conflicts between different roles – Andrew is not unique there. It is how you manage them.

I won’t be surprised if Andrew makes it into Parliament before the 2011 election, if there is a by-election in a Wellington seat.