PMs partner muddies the water

The Prime Minister’s partner Clarke Gayford rushes to her defence after she cancels her interview on @NewshubNationNZ for the 3rd time this year. Says the interviews weren’t in her diary when we were told by her office they were. I’m terribly confused by this govt atm. https://t.co/s3OIQaT1xk

— Tova O’Brien (@TovaOBrien) September 15, 2018

Tim Watkin (formerly producer of The Nation, not with Radio NZ) tweeted that it was good of Simon Bridges to front on The Nation after Jacinda Ardern wouldn’t.

Clarke Gayford responded saying:

Tim this is incorrect. The interviews were never in her dairy it was a genuine misscomunication. She’s doing a stand up tomorrow she did media yesterday. To infer she’s avoiding anyone is wrong.

Newshub Political Editor Tova O’Brien responded pointing out:

Says the interviews weren’t in her diary when we were told by her office they were.

This is of course very unhelpful for the Government.

You have the PMs partner saying one thing, and the PMs office saying another. So whom do media believe?

I can understand Clarke wanting to defend his partner. Its a natural instinct. But she is the Prime Minister of NZ. She has shown herself to be a very good communicator. She also has a staff of 30 including several press secretaries. What makes anyone think she can’t defend herself?

Family members of politicians are generally off limits for very good reasons. But if you enter the political game yourself, then you become fair game.

As for the wider issue, some people seem to conflate the difference between a Prime Minister (or Minister) not agreeing to do an interview, and agreeing to do one and then cancelling at the last minute.

No Prime Minister ever agrees to every interview request. It is absolutely normal for a PM to not agree to go on shows such as The Nation and Q+A as often as they are asked.

What is much more unusual is agreeing to go on, and cancelling at the last minute. And it seems Ardern has done this not once, but three times this year to the weekend political TV shows.

This implies there is some sort of systemic problem. Either incompetent scheduling (staff over commit the PM to events) or the PM often changes her mind about the desirability of going on.

And with this particular instance, we still don’t know what is the truth of the situation. Was she double booked? Was it an error and not in her diary as Gayford says? Did she just not have time to prepare so decided not to do it? Or did she not want to do in depth interviews about the CTO fiasco and the Whaitiri investigation?

It’s not a big deal by itself. But it’s sloppy to accept and cancel. And its sloppier to have your partner and your office saying different things to media about why.