Labour Laying into Key ...

It was great fun to watch Labour have a good old-fashioned go at John Key. Even Nat supporters must have enjoyed it, as an indication of how worried the government is. The last few weeks have bene disasterous for Labour - and the few weeks before that, and the few weeks before that. The good stuff the government is doing has been overlooked, lost or squandered in amongst bad headlines and David Benson-Popery. National have been on the rise, Key benefiting from the double wow factor of not being Don Brash and not being Helen Clarke.

I suspect Labour have been sitting on the original comments in the Rodney Times for quite a while, but the combination of recent bad news, National's poll lead provoked them to try to land a couple of blows on Key. George Galloway's recent ramblings (2) , which prompted Key's claim that "we've made it quite clear we won't be going to Iraq, we wouldn't have sent troops to Iraq" (3), presented them with the opportunity to launch their assault.

If this was something that Labour had been keeping in reserve, probably to trot out in the election campaign, then it is very suggestive of Labour finally realising that it is behind in the polls and it will be a long, tough battle to turn them around. Key is not Brash - Labour can't rely on him to slowly, grusomely fall apart. He's looking good to be running the country after the election. Which begs the question, how much more have Labour got on him? Hopefully, a bit more than this and Key's involvement with the Exclusive Brethern fiasco. That won't win Labour another election. But it is good to see they've finally realised they have to win it, rather than hanging about waiting for National to lose it.

1 - "Labour catches Key off guard," unattributed One News article, 7th of August, 2007. (http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/1279555)
2 - "Key clear over Iraq," unatttributed One News article, 29th of August, 2007. (http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/1258364)
3 - ibid.