Being useless obviously, never factored into his thinking?
Being male has cost him and many other National MPs a high slot on their party list, outgoing Dunedin list MP Michael Woodhouse believes.
On his first interview since quitting his party’s list, National’s Dunedin candidate said he feared that New Zealand’s sixth-largest city was being abandoned by his party, and that the way National was behaving meant it was shedding party votes to Act New Zealand.
“Firstly, there was a contest between diversity and experience and in my case, diversity won,” Woodhouse told the Otago Daily Times when asked about why he was given such a low position on National’s list.
“Secondly, I think that there was a bit of naivety about using the list rankings as a process to send messages, and thirdly I think that there were other factors at play working against me that I won’t elaborate on but I wasn’t part of the caucus club, that’s for sure. I have a habit of saying things without fear or favour.”
Woodhouse’s political world came crashing down at 1.15pm Saturday.
While delivering flyers in Waverley he received a call from the party’s regional electorate chairperson to tell him where he was situated on National’s list.
While he would not specify what number he was given, Woodhouse said it was well below what he had expected, even as a worst-case scenario.
“It was pretty clear to me that on the number that I was given that it was probably no better than a 45 per cent chance of getting back into Parliament, much less being in the thinking of the leadership for a ministerial post.
“Really, the decision was made for me by that decision by the leadership.”
NZ Herald
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