Labour MP and activists criticise Goff

Criticism of Phil Goff for his unilateral decision to rule out dealing with a party led by Hone Harawira continues to mount. Firstly we have this story by Duncan Garner:

Many in Goff’s caucus had told 3 News that Labour’s position was not to rule out anybody. Goff denies that.

“That has never been the position of the caucus,” he said.

This means multiple MPs are talking to 3 News, and revealing Goff went against his own caucus policy. Again remember that Goff six weeks agi did rule Harawira out, he then reversed his stance and refused to rule Harawira out, and then this week did a second flip-flop and ruled him out again.

One senior Labour MP told 3 News today that’s when Labour took a position not to keep all its options open.

On the Harawira decision, that MP told 3 News:

“I was really surprised, I thought caucus had agreed not to rule anyone out. I saw last night Phil changed that. Weird.”

What is weird is that the MP was prepared to allow him or herseld to be quoted criticising Goff. That is a deliberate decision.

Also of note is this blog post at The Standard by “Rob” criticising the decison. Now the post itself is not that significant, as the author is anonymous. It’s easy to be a critic when you’re anonymous. What is more significant is the comment by The Standard founder Lynn Prentice in the thread:

Might be time to vote for the greens. Daft as I find them, I think that they have more respect for the voters than this decision shows.

Lynn is a long-time Labour Party activist. For him to publicly speculate about voting for the Greens must mean he is seriously unhappy with what Goff has done. He hasn’t said he will vote for the Greens, but the tenor of his comment is significant.