Is Mallard the man?
March 29th, 2011 at 11:00 am by David FarrarIn all the talk about whether Parker or Cunliffe would do better than Goff at the election, I wonder if people are overlooking the merits of Trevor Mallard. I’m not saying Trevor could beat John Key and become Prime Minister, but he could well get a good enough result that Labour are within closer striking distance for next time. What are the advantages of Mallard:
- Mallard is clearly from the left and shore up their base. National in 2002 tried to got for the centre vote, had not shored up its base, and crumbled. In 2005 it moved to the right and got its base on board, and then won in 2008 by being back to the centre. You need your base first.
- Mallard would excite the activists. I don’t think it is a stretch to say that Mallard probably personally knows 90% of Labour’s activists – the ones who do the work. Trevor as leader would make sure that the entire activist base is motivated and working. Under Goff, they are dis-spirited.
- Mallard would please the unions. Mallard is massively pro-union. Donations and “manpower” would flow in from the unions with Mallard as Leader.
- Trevor appeals to Chris Trotter’s “Waitakere Man”. Labour has a masisve problem with male voters, and Trevor would lift Labour’s vote amongst men.
I’m not saying Trevor is challenging – of course he is not. What I’m saying is that if Goff goes, Labour should look further than just Parker and Cunliffe.
Related posts:
- ODT looks at new leadership for Labour
- Carter names Mallard
- The Mallard Affair
- Parsons on Labour leadership
March 29th, 2011 at 11:05 am
He’s literally a lame duck at the moment though…
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:10 am
PLEASE be Mallard. That would be hilarious.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:11 am
Not a bad suggestion. It could be the case of thuggish unionists led by a hatchet man, bully and accomplished thug.
Vote:Quite befitting.
March 29th, 2011 at 11:11 am
Glad you agree with me DPF
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:14 am
OMG you seem to be suggesting that Mallard is the best that Labour can do.
Vote:He is a perfect example of why voters left Labour in droves, and now to suggest that a bully and a thug become leader of a once proud part….Oh hang on!
March 29th, 2011 at 11:16 am
The ALP tried something similar in electing Mark Latham as leader but in the subsequent 2004 Federal Election, they managed to lose ground.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:17 am
He knows how to lie, cheat, and waste other peoples’ money bigtime too.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:20 am
But would he please the dykeocracy?
Snide comment aside, Goff is there as an appeal to the center voter. Mallard would entrench the core support at the expense of the greens.
I see where you’re going with this……….
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:22 am
lofty “best” is a very relative term where left wing leadership is concerned.
I’d be in favor of Mallard if they got rid of Goff. I’m confident he could almost as good a job for National as Phil has done.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:25 am
I’ve been saying the same thing for a while (okay, like a week).
The standard issue is that the next generation don’t want to step up now because the Labour leadership is a poisoned chalice. They know they can’t win, and if they don’t will be damaged for 2014… Mallard is the alternative. It may not be a question of winning the next election, but losing the next election with 35% of the vote is a lot better than losing it with 28% of the vote. Five or six or eight extra MPs could make a big difference. Indeed, it may not even be about getting a few extra percent to make 2014 better, but avoiding losing a few % that will make 2014 even harder.
The real concern must be about doing so badly that someone like Andrew Little doesn’t make it in. In 2002, there were high profile list-only (or basically list-only) candidates National was running who missed out. They got Brash, but Parata, Peachey and Salmon all missed out.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:31 am
please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, …
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:33 am
What Kimble said
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:33 am
Maybe labour should poll National voters on who their next leader should be.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:38 am
Manolo, he isn’t a “thug”.
He’s just the cowardly little bully boy that stood in the dock like a frightened little schoolboy and got told to fuck off when he grandstanded and impersonated a tough guy over the waterfront stadium proposal in Auckland. Mallard epitomises most of the things that people detest about Labour. Nasty, petulant, petty and puerile just like King, Chadwick, Street, et al. Bring him on as labour’s next leader I say.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:39 am
I suspect if it weren’t for the fisticuffs incident with Tau Henare, Mallard rather than Goff would have succeeded Clark. Despite a tendency to open mouth before engaging brain, Mallard is a far more astute strategist and tactician.
But as a Green, I’m quite happy to see Goff remain.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:44 am
So you should be Toad, keeping Goff as the leader is the only way the Greens are going to stay in the house.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:46 am
Bring back the biff!!!
Vote Mallard 2011!!!
Yeah right.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:50 am
Well on the up side the entire sorry saga will give a lot ofdder for new tui billboards.
Lets start with:
I’ve done nothing wrong!
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:54 am
Mallard has stated in the past that he recognised he wasn’t ideal leadership material, I think he was genuinely saying that, not like the more normal “not interested but please pick me”.
Labour needs someone who will first get some semblance of organisation and common purpose within the Labour caucus, very difficult with so many old hands. Mallard is one that may be able to drag them together and get them at least moving forward a bit. If he had a couple of years to get Labour back on track, by then a more obvious successor may have emerged.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 11:55 am
Is there any truth to the rumour Jim Anderton will reform “New Labour” and selectively entice the better people in labour and leave the dregs behind:
1. Immediatey sidelines Clarke & Co.
2. Dizzy part of Rainbow wing left behind.
3. Decent Rainbow wing people would be welcome.
The more I thing about it, Clarke and co introduced the cancer to the party and Goff has completed the job. Labour cannot recover it needs to take the decent people and rebuild.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Damn you Farrar!
Now I’m agreeing with Toad?
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
They should make Little the leader, he has a kind of gruff appeal but without the schoolboy nastiness of Mallard.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Little has the appeal of 3 day old roadkill.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
“the better people in labour”
Magic mushroom alert.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
@Buaidh No Bars .. if the old age trougher Anderton was to take the best in the party, he would not even need a minibus. a scooter would do it.
The party needs a clean out completely.
This country deserves an effective opposition, and it has not had it for a couple of years. and I don’t see it getting one for the next few.
It is not good to have a government that does not have to front up from time to time, all because the LAbour party has an absolute lack of talent on their benches.
Shame on the Labour party, and shame on the organisers at local levels that allow the MP’s to get away with it.
Start again with good working people, with life skills, and ethics. Get rid of the acedemics, trade unionists, political studies students staright out of uni (Hughes) troughers, bullies, etc etc.
Won’t happen I know, that is why they are destined to the opposition benches for the foreseeable future. Thank God.
If Mallard is the answer, must be a prick of a question.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Mallard certainly lacks Little’s smarmy git appearance.
LOL at internet toughs complaining about “thug” Mallard
He would be a good Deputy to Robertson IMO…
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Fair point dpf, it is probably only the political tragics of the kind which inhabit this blog who remember (or ever knew) Mallard’s incident with Tau Henare or his coke bottle comments.
He sounds tough, is apparently heterosexual, is definitely from the Trade Union Left and has as good name recognition as any Labour Politician currently in the house and his personal flaws relate to his personality rather than his ethics.
He is the perfect candidate except that his morals are questionable, he is prone to violence, comes across arrogant and smarmy, can’t point to any achievement of note during his years as a Cabinet Mnister and now appears determined to single-handedly break the bank at ACC.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Ha Lofty you beat me to it.
Vote:You should all read ZBob Carr’s summation of why Labour lost the election on Saturady. Very astute.
Posted it last night in GD and I see DPF has blogged on it.
March 29th, 2011 at 12:28 pm
david, I never considered myself a ‘political tragic’ before, but I remember thinking Graham McCready was a top bloke for pursuing Mallard privately after he punched Henare. There’s a man that deserves more than a few DB’s.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
@david 12:23 pm
It was a beer bottle, not a coke bottle. Real men don’t drink coke.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
I agree with toad. I always expected Mallard to replace Clark eventually, but after the Henare incident his future appeared less bright. I think that most people don’t really care about it anymore, though, and I think Mallard would give Labour a far better result than Goff ever could.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Mallard is the only one who can run and should. He is a direct contrast to John Key, he has the grunt and he isn’t gay. He won’t be there forever so could make this election a real run for our money.
Vote:But they’ll fart around until the next crop of rumours begin as they will, leave it all far too late, lose the election really badly and whinge and moan for another 3 years.
Can’t they look across the Tasman see what happpened with Rudd? A quick assassination and then an election victory.
What are they scared of?
But as a Nat, Goff suits me. He’ll help win us the election, poor old Phil with his dyed hair, very manly voice and silly strut.
March 29th, 2011 at 12:42 pm
at 1st I thought you were taking the piss .. in fact my actual thoughts were “you must be fucking joking”. The leader of the Labour party convicted of assaulting a fellow MP in Parliament buildings just a few years ago??? You think a person of that nature should be party Leader and potential Prime Minister of NZ .. stop drinking David.
Vote:before Daffy defriended me from Facebook, he had teenagers saying he should run for leader (that was during another Goff Gaffe) and he was saying no as he has passed that stage and didn’t have such ambitions.
Now, after saying all that, it would be GREAT
March 29th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Mallard is only henchman material. I’m conflicted as to whether he could do a better job than Goff, but that’s only because Goff keeps getting worse.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
How about Duckman for leader and Cunners for deputy……..?
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
No no no…it must be a dyke or a dyke apologist, sorry folks but that is all she wrote.
Present Labour = Unelectable & allows for Unaccountable Govt.
Cleaned out and cleaned up Labour = Viable opposition & Honest Govt (well as honest as they get anyway).
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Lofty & Buaidh – Anderton himself would be the main problem with that picture IMO.
While I would be sad to see Labour revert to being all about the Unions and nothing else, if that happened there might be an exodus of the more libertarian and the more business-minded among them, without the need for Jim to be involved? Dreams are free after all.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Make Tizard leader.
She’s only planning a comeback to resolve a few outstanding issues anyway, so no great loss when Labour crash to their worst ever defeat in November.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
So Mallard could be like Labours version of Rob Muldoon
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
@Lance 1:29 pm
As far as I know, Mallard isn’t a drunk.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Thank you for the correction Toad. Yes it was Heneken if I recall. Shows how the detail blurs with time tho’ which was really my point.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Mallard would be great fun! I’m not saying he could necessarily win it for Labour, but his entrapping questions are tough in the house, he has a sharp wit, he’s a rugby man, and carriers a good kiwi sense of humour. He has that bit of so-called “mongrel” we seem to relate to and talk about needing more of in NZ. He should take the hit for the team, sweep the leg.
And if anything the election leader’s debates would be compelling viewing.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 3:34 pm
decanker said: “And if anything the election leader’s debates would be compelling viewing.”
Indeed.
For this reason and because of the current situation Labour find themselves in, they really should just say “What the f*ck” and make Mallard their leader (and other such radical changes). Have a complete shakeup, change the team around and come out fighting for the election.
C’mon Labour. It’s time to say “What the f*ck”, and go out guns blazing.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Trevor would make the ideal Opposition leader. While the spotlight is on John Key at the Rugby World Cup final, Trevor could give him a wave…
from inside the Waterfront Stadium, oh wait.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
mavxp said: “C’mon Labour. It’s time to say “What the f*ck”, and go out guns blazing.”
Precisely, no matter how much Labour might think they have the right policies to win it and that National have done a bad job, the media have already decided that Labour can’t win the election under Phil Goff. That sentiment will be projected by the media throughout the whole campaign and they will inevitably keep talking about a new leader – for before or after the election.
Nip it in the bud now and give the media an election story to tell — John Key vs Phil Goff is not newsworthy. John Key vs Trevor Mallard, well that’ll get everyone talking, for better or worse.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 5:16 pm
all jokes aside .. what say Daffy did take gaffes place and things started to turn to shit in the Nats, or more likely with the coalition partners, and a Labour coalition became the Govt .. Daffy would be our Prime Minister .. farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
Agreed DPF. I didn’t agree with Mallard’s school closures and I personally find him a bit of a bull in a china shop, but there are numerous reasons why he’d have more appeal to many voters than Goff, Parker or Cunliffe.
Spade is a spade, rugby fan, mountain biker/cyclist, middle of the road enviromentalist (I think he was arrested on the Wellington motorway in the 1970s?), former teacher with a commerce degree, not a bigot on women’s, race and gay issues, pro worker and union, experienced parliamentarian, former cabinet minister in various portfolios, would give the likes of Key, English, Joyce, Wilkinson, Ryall, and Tolley a run for their money, and rather importantly out beyond the beltway, quite a character with a witty sense of humour.
Vote:March 29th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Imagine Mallard as PM. That would be the end of freedom of speech because he would immediately ban anyone who disagreed with him even slightly – just as he does over at Red Alert.
Vote:March 31st, 2011 at 11:42 am
backster (963) Says:
He knows how to lie, cheat, and waste other peoples’ money bigtime too.
Sounds just like Bill English. As for Mallard one badly behaved clown leading a political party in NZ is surely enough.
Vote: