Carter sacked for Goff coup letter
The Herald reports:
MP Chris Carter has been suspended from the Labour Party after admitting to sending an anonymous letter claiming there is a plot to overthrow leader Phil Goff.
“His actions were stupid and disloyal,” Labour leader Phil Goff told a press conference this afternoon.
“There are no more chances. His future in the Labour Party is at an end.”
Mr Goff said Labour’s caucus had met today and a unanimous decision was taken to suspend him from the caucus.
“As of now, Mr Carter is no longer a member of the Labour Party caucus. The New Zealand Council of the Labour Party will shortly consider his membership of the Labour Party itself.
“The content of his letter, while not true, was designed to damage the party I lead. It was stupid and disloyal. His actions breached caucus rules and were calculated to damage the party and the leadership. This is unacceptable to me and my caucus.
And this was after Goff only demoted Carter to N 13 – a higher rating than Steven Joyce. The lesson in hindsight for Goff is he should have sacked him all the way.
A question to be asked, is was Carter alone and is the letter definitely not true? While his colleagues (the sane ones anyway) will be in horror at what he did with the poison pen letter, that does not mean there were not talks about the pros and cons of changing the leader.
Also one wonders whether or not any advice from New York was sought. Clark certainly would never approve of a letter like this being sent to the media. She know coups are done in the dark. But has she removed her “protection” from Goff?
Today’s letter, sent to several media organisations’ political editors, was in an old airmail envelope with Office of Minister of Finance, NEW ZEALAND printed on it.
The single-page letter said union-based MPs would challenge Mr Goff on Tuesday about a government plan to allow workers to cash in their fourth week of holiday.
The measure was one of a number of controversial labour changes the Government announced last week.
Mr Goff is reported to have told a radio station that he didn’t have huge objections to the fourth week being cashed up as long as workers arrived freely at their decisions and were not pressured.
Heh I highlighted that stance from Goff on the blog 
Labour deputy leader Annette King was visibly angry when questioned by reporters earlier today.
“It’s a piece of malicious mischief,” she said.
“I don’t know but, as you know, I am a former minister of police and let’s say we are following some leads… I would hope we would (trace them). It’s a piece of malicious fabrication.”
The letter said the issue had bought to a head “growing discontent” within the Caucus about Mr Goff’s leadership and poor polling.
“David Cunliffe has a big smile on his face and many in the caucus now expect a move against Goff and King before the election.”
Mr Cunliffe said the letter was “complete rubbish and like my colleagues I am cross about it. Look at my face. That’s (the smile claim is) rubbish too.”
Cunliffe would have had nothing to do with it. He knows the job can be his after the election if he is patient.
How stupid was Carter to send it in the internal mail, and with his handwriting on it. Seriously – that is moron class dumbness. He also got caught on the internal CCTV cameras.
The letter also said George Hawkins would be challenged for his Manurewa electorate seat by a member of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) before nominations closed on September 1.
“George is threatening a by-election and since the party is broke, there is panic in the ranks over this prospect.”
I have heard from several sources that Labour is indeed pretty broke. For some strange reason having the chief fund-raiser also head up the largest union, hasn’t helped with collecting donations.
Good luck trying to oust George. He has a very loyal local team I am told.
The big question now is will Carter quit Parliament or stay on as an Independent? If he quits, then we have a by-election for Te Atatu. Considering the cause of the by-election will be a Labour MP being sacked for disloyalty because he resented criticism of his troughing, I believe the seat can be won by National. It will of course depend on candidate selection for both parties.
As Carter’s partner, Peter Kaiser, is the electorate chair that will make any candidate selection very interesting.
PS – thanks to the various people who texted me with the breaking news. Was worth waking up at 5 am for
UPDATE2:
Thanks to Stuff, a copy of the letter. A hand written envelope. My God.
Interestingly I am not sure the letter is false. It does not claim that there s a coup on. It claims that the union MPs will whack at Goff over his leave comments. I am sure this is true and was planned. It claims Hawkins faces a union threat – again this appears to be true. No secret they want him to retire.
And the third claim is that many expect a move against Goff before the election. Carter did not say it was happening now, or that it would succeed – just that many expected a challenge.
Going back to a Te Atatu by-election, is this finally a seat that Phil Twyford can win the nomination for?
UPDATE3: Colin Espiner blogs:
Closed circuit television also caught Carter popping his missive into the internal mail.
It’s enough to make his colleagues look like members of Mensa by comparison.
Heh great line.
Also a reader reminds me of 2008 party vote in Te Atatu:
Labour 13,171
National 13,183
That was at an election where National beat Labour nationally by 11%. The gap is around 20% at the moment.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
What an idiot. For months Brian Edwards has suggested that Carter was being treated harshly because of his sexuality. Will be now eat his words and admit that Chris Carter is just plain dumb.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Same shit happening in Aussie.
Gillard warns leakers: I’ll sack you http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/gillard-warns-leakers-ill-sack-you/story-fn59niix-1225898443420
Don’t you just love it when the left start to turn on one another?
July 29th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
@ LarryQ – spot on. Carter’s incompetence knows no bounds. Caught on camera, and identified by his handwriting; what a tosser!
July 29th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Who sends stuff by mail these days anyway?
He could have set up an anonymous blog and gmail account and had much more fun.
Not that I know about that stuff
July 29th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
I always knew that queers were not to be trusted. What a wanker. I wonder if the Great Leader (ie: the bilious Bitch) put him up to it.
[DPF: 30 demerits for the queers comment and 30 for the bitch comment - 60 demerits]
July 29th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Had to read this carefully to make sure it wasn’t a wind up. It’s not a wind up is it? Is Carter really that fucked in the head?!
July 29th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Goff is behind it all. He gets rid of Carter, rolled by Cunliffe, Cunliffe takes the fall and then Goff comes back after the next election when he thinks he has a chance. You heard it here first!!
July 29th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Oh FFS Barry, why would say that? Would people get over the fact that Carter is gay. The pertinent point is that he is a dipshit who has right royally screwed his political career. Seriously, drag yourself into the late 20th century sometime – its assholes like you who contribute to the left thinking they are morally superior.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
DPF: ‘PS – thanks to the various people who texted me with the breaking news. Was worth waking up at 5 am for ‘
Was wondering if we would have to wait till like 7pm NZ time before you blogged about it, agree as it is big enough news to wake early for, certainly bombshell on Labour.
Am totally amazed and don’t know whether to laugh as it is pretty SAD that Carter is someone who won’t give up/let go and would do all this anyway. A long drawn out slow motion car crash, agree with the sentiment that Gof ‘should have sacked him all the way’.
A double edge sword for Goff the way he plays this hand will show his own political instincts and determine his longer term future.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
hahahahahahahaha.
a seat for Twyford .. hahahahahahaha
silent T as Labour Party Leader … hahahahahahaha
hahahahaha
July 29th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Gooner to funny
It will be an interesting contest between Carters greed and spite regarding a by-election. See Trevor is crying crocodile tears over at Red Alert. This is a good result in some ways for Labour they were never going to get my party vote at the next election but I will now say it is unlikely they will get my party vote.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
@ Barry – this has nothing whatsoever to do with Carter being gay, and everything to do with him being a petulant and incompetent MP, with a death-wish. He’s forced Goff’s hand, but it blows Labour’s caucus apart, and Goff may well go down with the ship.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
glug glug glug I2??
July 29th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Add this event to a long list of things Chris has blown
July 29th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
I nearly drove off the road when I heard this. The only thing I can possibly think is that Chris Carter is falling on his sword and at the same time building up Goff’s leadership credentials. I cannot beleive Carter is so stupid as to pull a stunt like this!
Or is he?
I’m having a bit of a through the looking glass moment here. You picked a bad time to sojourn northwards David.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Inventory2 is right, this has nothing to do with his sexuality.
that is, of course, until he brings it out as his defense.
3
2
1?
July 29th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I absolutely have to make sure I see the news tonight so that I can see the GGG (Goff gunslinger gait) on display again.
Footchase around parliament anyone?
July 29th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
“He also got caught on the internal CCTV cameras.”
I thought there was a Speaker’s ruling that footage involving the actions or whereabouts of a MP would never be made available, even if the MP concerned would consent to its release. The reason being that the cameras were there to monitor staff and ‘strangers’ and not MP’s themselves, otherwise MP’s may vote for the removal of CCTV cameras.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
By-election? Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you…the one…the only….Mr Winston Peters!
July 29th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
I find it hard to feel any sympathy for Mr Carter.
He seems to me to embody the notion that many politicians are consumed by their sense of self-importance and have nothing but contempt for ordinary, workaday people.
My dislike of Mr Carter and all he stands for is likely to be intensified by the inevitable claims that to criticise him is ‘homophobia’.
I’m not sure what homophobia is – a fear of homosexuals or homosexuality, I imagine – but whatever it is, criticising Mr Carter isn’t homophobia.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Goff recognised his handwriting? I struggle with this one! Hard to believe any one could be that stupid. I suspect the CCTV really gave him up. Would love to see that! Either way Carter must be in a pretty desperate mental state, or has he always been like that? He has few options now. Where on earth does he get his advice from, on this one certainly not Helen.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
“certainly not Helen.”
Highly likely I reckon. She herself of course would have done it with a much higher and more successful degree of stealth. Ask Mike Moore.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
I wonder how many more little gifts Chris Carter will have for Goff now Carter’s not a member of the Labour caucus. There’s now no-one to tell him to STFU.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
just saw Carter on TV1 and …………………………………………………………………… he is right in his critique of Goff’s leadership but!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 29th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Aren’t you currently overseas DPF?
July 29th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
and .. just saw Goff AND he still has the John Travolta strut
July 29th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Same here Jaba I saw it as well… to be fair he is just telling the truth… mind you that IS a hanging offence in Liabour.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
There’s now no-one to tell him to STFU.
only if you believe that Helen isn’t still pulling the strings.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
What sticks in my claw is that you have an imbecile and moron like Carter, who has been making and passing laws by which you and I have to live by, for the best part of a decade.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
ooooooo .. a suggestion that Carter will continue with an attack on Goff .. being a mate of Dame Helen, he would know where the bodies are buried .. can’t wait to hear more
July 29th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
The former cow jumped over the moon police minister said from the hairdressers they are following strong leads to the letter leak, oops the printing is small just like the sub standard sewer blog. I have gay chickens and a strange pig that flys around the world.
Shove ya demerits!
July 29th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
I suppose that’s what JohnTamahere meant when he called him a “tosser” (he’s a tosser of the leader)?
July 29th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Espliner has just waved Carter’s hand-written envelope around on camera on ONE NEWS, and Yes – the last letter of the address has a very distinctive flamboyant flourish. Merde ! Again it is all “just because he is gay” !
July 29th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Anyone else get the sudden feeling that this is the “diversion” part of the operation?
July 29th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Did Aunty Helen tell Chris this?
July 29th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Oh god…crying… tears… no words…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3970769/Chris-Carter-suspended-from-caucus
July 29th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
I thought there was a Speaker’s ruling that footage involving the actions or whereabouts of a MP would never be made available, even if the MP concerned would consent to its release. The reason being that the cameras were there to monitor staff and ‘strangers’ and not MP’s themselves, otherwise MP’s may vote for the removal of CCTV cameras.
I wondered that as well. Imagine if this was pre 2008 election, Helen would have made damn sure she got her hands on the tapes and denied National would be allowed to view them.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Some rainbows end in pots of gold.
Some rainbows start plots that are bold.
Some rainbows contain dolts that are old.
Pick the rainbow that describes Carter.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Goff needs to be very very careful. He is dealing with a petulant poof. Far more dangerous than a woman scorned.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Crying cryins cryins … with laughter … at the stupidity of this man…… WHAT a tosser .. being seen on cctv posting letter.. own hand writng… this stuff is dishonest and these guys are paid by us…. r e a l l y! Gone gone gone!
July 29th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Chris Carter in back door shenanigans. Film at 11
July 29th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Agreed Adolf; Chris Carter knew EXACTLY what he was doing today
http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/2010/07/plot-thickens.html
Phil Goff’s leadership is now a thing for public debate, not sly innuendo. Carter has succeeded in getting people talking.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Cunliffe would have had nothing to do with it. He knows the job can be his after the election if he is patient.
And Goff will be very suspicious of him and the Labour curcas from now on… Leaving Andrew Little in the box seat.
I don’t think Carter is being flamboyant… when he say’s Goff won’t win the next election… and that Labour need to look for another Leader … if they won’t any chance of winning the next election…
What did he say… something like.. Goff is a nice guy.. but me and my colleagues all know he’s the wrong guy to lead Labour to win Labour an election… we owe it to our voters to get rid of him.
Be interesting to see on Tuesday next week if he’s right.. and there’s a leadership challange.
If there is it can only be for Cunliffe … Little is not an MP yet.. Cunliffe looks the next to get the chop from Goff..
July 29th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Chris Carter on TV3 (Campbell Live) is in favour of ordinary New Zealanders .. as are the Labour Party as a whole. Ordinary.
wow .. he says Goff is not the Person to win BUT won’t name the person who he thinks should be the leader .. how bizarre
mmmmmm .. maybe he will join Winny and MLaws??
July 29th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
“Petulant poof” Well I tend to agree with Adolf, the scary thing is that it may not be a new phenomenon – did he behave in this way as a Minister for 9 years. If so,what does that say about the previous Labour government
July 29th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Sorry, but why can’t employees have the choice to cash in on the fourth week, and why can’t employers have the chance to ask the employees if they can consider it? What the hell is it to anyone else? Goff is a dick, but he is right here. Carter must be one of the worst politicians we have ever had.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
RKBee has a point. Any Labour MP who actively seeks the leadership prior to the next election is frankly too stupid to have it. The fact that Carter has done what he has at this time speaks to a lack of political nous that has me wondering how he stayed at such a high profile for so long.
Ironically, it could well be because he is gay.
July 29th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
‘What an idiot. For months Brian Edwards has suggested that Carter was being treated harshly because of his sexuality. Will be now eat his words and admit that Chris Carter is just plain dumb.’
Well larryq @5.08pm, it seems the venerable Dr Edwards-rat has jumped off the sinking ship SS Carter as well. Off course, in passing, Edwards has also put his knife into the back of Phil the Nightwatchman.
Q. Is he [Carter] right that there is widespread dissatisfaction in the Labour caucus with Goff’s performance as Leader?
A. My understanding is that there is widespread dissatisfaction with his performance in the polls.
Q. Can Goff win the next election?
A. Probably not.
http://brianedwardsmedia.co.nz/2010/07/10-questions-and-answers-about-what-chris-carter-did/
July 29th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Dr Edwards is staying exactly where he is and where he has always been – on the deck of the good ship Helen Clark.
July 30th, 2010 at 3:38 am
Unlike many, I don’t think this was an act of stupidity. Sure, it was clumsy, but consider that Carter has absolutely nothing to lose by doing this. He doesn’t think Goff can win, so that means he will not be a Minister again until at least 2014, by which time he may be considered past his prime. He may as well start a public confrontation if he believes it can undermine Goff’s leadership, and so far it has done exactly that.
Labour basically have to expel him from the Party if they want to get rid of him, and will they? Carter is quite popular within Labour by all accounts. More popular than Goff, certainly. Anything less than an expulsion will be seen as a lack of confidence in Goff, and I imagince Carter feels confident enough to risk that all-or-nothing bet.
July 30th, 2010 at 7:24 am
It would be good to see politicians bound by the ERA the same way the rest of us are. Goff said on tv last night he gave Carter a second chance, he was very fair, but now he has to go. Well Phil, its an awful lot harder to get rid of the people you don’t like outside the corridors of power. Out in the rest of New Zealand, your second chance would have to be a third, involve trial periods, good faith bargaining, and so on. And possibly a decent payout and employment court case to boot.
July 30th, 2010 at 7:38 am
Carter was half correct. Goff won’t win.
But did he also realise Labour wouldn’t win with people like him in there too? Did his letter say anything about that?
July 30th, 2010 at 8:12 am
Tibet