The Government was under fire last week. Andrew Bayly hadn’t handled an employee with a clear axe to grind particularly well. Labour was on the attack and then, on Wednesday, the narrative changed fast when Winston Peters obliquely attacked Ayesha Verrall.
It was NZ First leader Winston Peters who chipped in (perhaps less than helpfully as far as National was concerned) to try to blunt Labour’s question lines. The National ministers simply sat silently watching Bayly take his medicine.
The week also highlighted Luxon’s inexperience at countering such attacks.
So it was also left to Peters to try to turn the tables on Labour. Peters is the warhorse of Opposition style politics and duly mounted his counter-attack on Thursday.
He stood in Parliament and named a relative of Labour’s health spokeswoman Ayesha Verrall, who had worked on the tobacco reforms without the conflict being disclosed to the minister responsible, Casey Costello.
Peters’ aim was primarily in defence of his own under-fire minister, Costello. It turned out more uncomfortable for the relative and the Ministry of Health, who had to apologise for not telling Costello about it.
But it also served the purpose of getting Hipkins answering, rather than asking, questions. And by Friday more people were talking about Peters’ efforts than Bayly.
NZ Herald
After that no one was listening to Labour talk about Andrew Bayly, and everyone was talking about Winston Peters’ accusation and the fact he hadn’t named anyone. Labour thought, wrongly, that Winston was full of bluster but had no details.
