Carter expelled

The Labour Party NZ Council has expelled Chris Carter as a member. I am surprised as I thought some pressure had gone on to just suspend him for a couple of years. I guess his recent comments ruled that out as a compromise option.

Derek Cheng at the Herald reports:

Party president Andrew Little said Mr Carter’s actions on July 29, when he sent anonymous letters to journalists in Parliament’s Press Gallery undermining leader Phil Goff, were likely to foment internal discontent and encourage external ridicule.

“They were deceptive, they were clearly calculated to cause damage to the caucus and foment discontent and disharmony in the caucus and cause damage to the party’s reputation,” Mr Little said.

“At no time has there been an acceptance of the gravity of [the actions] or a display of contrition.”

The lack of contrition I suspect was a key factor. Recall Carter gleefully going on TV and repeating his key message time after time after time – that Labour can not win under Phil Goff.

Mr Little said: “Had the author of his letter to the gallery not been revealed, it would have caused considerable harm to that caucus and the way it operates, and there’s no question that the publicity in the days that followed caused damage to the party.”

He said that in other leadership challenges, there had been direct contact with the leader, not a “furtive, sneaky letter”.

And that is a key difference. Richard Prebble called David Lange unbalanced to his face – he did not write anonymous letters to the media about him.

This is a victory for Phil Goff. Now Carter is truly an Independent MP, his comments and doings are of far less media value.