The leftward and other blatherings of Span (now with Snaps!)

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

does my party look big in this?

DPF has posted his thoughts on the leaked memo from Act President Catherine Judd, but what I find interesting is what he left out of his summary; mention of Judd's views on Brash's leadership:

"Don Brash looks unlikely to last long and it is assumed that National will move to the left, creating a Bolger-type National Party, led by a Birch-like John Key."
Generally, suggestions that Brash's days are numbered are ridiculed by commenters on Kiwiblog, and of course Judd may be guilty of wishful thinking - if Brash is no longer leader and National vacates Act's part of the spectrum so much the better for her party.

The part of the memo that surprised me was Judd's analysis of Act's relationship with the Maori Party:

"Relations with the Maori Party are positive and friendly. We should be alongside them but opposed to the Maori seats."
Maybe the Maori Party MPs are just being nice to everyone, as the new kids on the block? I hope they understand that Act are not their friends (actually, there are no friends, it's politics). Judd's statement reminds me of how the Right at AUSA would draw off susceptible centre-lefties.

And how does all this talk of making Act "look bigger" gel with Coddington's comment in her recent Herald on Sunday column that "size does matter"?

Related link:
Audrey Young on the memo - Act trying to look bigger than two MPs

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

spanblather, Hide and Turia are very good friends.