A Chip(pie) On Her Shoulder

Poor Chippie. While no doubt hoping to keep whatever happened between him and his first wife at arms length, at least from the public, the ex has taken it upon herself to proceed on a course of disarmament. This little man now has to defend remarks made by his ex, who may well have a chip (in the form of her ex-husband) on her shoulder. If that is the case that is a most uncomfortable place for Chippie to have to sit. The public gaze will be upon him and he will have to somehow defend himself from his perch.

Before going further it is pertinent to address the question of the role of the media in all of this. There is the question of the rights and wrongs of any publicity whenever there are children involved. The fact is the way the media behave today makes that question irrelevant. What I will say is Chippie is lucky his media friends will be as kind as possible in their reporting. IMAGINE IF IT WERE LUXON. Need I say more? The other question is that if you’re a politician, are you fair game for scrutiny of this type? The answer in today’s media world is yes but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right.

The allegations concern Hipkins’ behaviour. If this turns out to be true it should come as no surprise. Leftist politicians by their very nature are nasty. There are numerous examples. Labour’s expelling of Gaurav Sharma, Mallard hosing protesters down and the Māori lot expelling Kapa-Kingi, to highlight but three.

Are the media likely to keep this story alive? If it were Luxon the answer would be most emphatically yes. Reporters would no doubt be at all his public engagements, hanging around his house and at the airport. But not with their friend Chippie. Unless Jade is intent on somehow keeping the story going then my guess is it will quickly fade. The media will do all it can to ensure the effects of this saga are minimal when it comes to Labour’s election prospects.

Whether this will harm Labour at the ballot box is a moot point. If there is further or more concrete evidence of the validity of Paul’s claims it could. As has been noted elsewhere, a large proportion of Labour’s supporters are women. They will not be impressed. This unfortunately might benefit the other nutters on the left, the Greens.

Chippie’s comment about ‘hitting the jackpot’ with his new relationship was insensitive and I would suspect be hurtful to his ex-wife and children. He claims he puts his children first. It is similar to Ardern and her so-called ‘kindness’ during Covid. It’s not kindness: it’s the very opposite. It’s nasty.

However this messy scenario plays out, whatever way the wind blows, Chippie has done Labour no favours. The question now is whether they ditch him or, like the sheep they are, get in behind. Riveting times ahead.