Will the government fall this week?

Will the government fall this week?

With revelations from Owen Glenn that Peters solicited money from him and personally thanked him for the donation surely Clark has to get rid of him which to my mind suggest she will have to call an election by the end of the week. Unless she can get the Greens to jump on board but the Nats will smell blood.
Peters is a twat, he has changed his story again and the sooner we get rid of him the better.
Question time will be very interesting today, i really can't see how Helen will get out of this one. Unless her blood brother Magaret Wilson has another shocker like yesterday.

Heard that a government department has been advised that Ministers will not be processing anything new from 1st September, so may be the call will be for Mid October - I was banking on it being the last weekend possible (November 15th?), but you never know...

That does make it sound like an announcement either late this week or next monday which wouldn't be surprising if Bopman is correct: attempt to call the general election before someone tables a vote of no-confidence to give Labour as much time as possible.

So long as the Nix win this weekend, who cares??

you can cast a vote from overseas if you need to. If it happens that is!

theprof2008-08-28 09:05:18

Bloody oath, i'd feel gipped too! I'm hoping my first "election" time will be full of controversy, ah the first times always special

So it turns out Helen Clark has known since Feb Owen Glens side of the story, so how has she sat there and let Winston Peters defame and attack the media. Surely this is pretty big!

Come on Key, do it, you know you want to! VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE!!!

That would require Winston being relieved of his ministry or him being found guilty and any potential knowledge by Labour revealed.

Whether its true or not, Winnie is getting a taste of his own smear and innuendo tactics.  What makes me sad is that its now very hard to trust Aunty Helen.  She appears to have rushed out her knowing of the donation via Owen G. Glenn to avoid the SFO and others revealing it.    Holding back information where someone is allegedly complicit in a case of fraud is not a good look.

Then again, if Winnie knows he's gonna get dumped will he withdraw from the ETS.

Let's say Winnie is "suspended", will he "suspend" his support for the Government.

Most of the stuff we have heard have come from the media that's been spoiling for a go at Winnie.

Putting aside the other issues of the Jones and Vella donations who would know. Labour would come out of it poorly because Glen is such a major donor of theirs. Peters would be unbearably smug and would win Tauraunga and prob get 5 or 6% and turn himself into the kingmaker again

If Peters is sunk and NZ first is too, the one person in Parliament whos pretty onto it - Ron Mark, what happens to him?

I think the dynamic of electorates like Rimutaka LG is that people are voting for the party not the person, its a red ribbon seat i believe.
You are right about Ron Mark though, he is likely to go down with the ship which is a shame as i do think he is one of the better MPs floating around on the centre right these daysbopman2008-08-29 12:40:38

Does he seriously think a body such as the SFO plots against people??

Stand down Winston, stand down

I think you make an interesting point Dairyflat, Winston Peters- love him or loathe him is a seriously good politician, as is Helen Clark. How do they make this monumental of stuff up in judgement? Even stranger is that Clark has sat on this for months surely understanding how much of a f**k up the whole thing was. She is better than that. The whole thing is just odd!

Peters is gooooooonnnneeeeee.... "stood down" from his portfolios

Bold move from Key saying no Peters in a future government even if he gets cleared. Effectively means the end of Winnie's career. Also means Helen is stuck with Peters or Helen is Peters' only option .
The SFO have the power to get answers. Not providing a satisfactory explanation to the SFO on financial matters is taken as alleged 'incompetence' or alleged 'lying'. So Winnie can't bluff through this episode. edward l2008-08-29 21:31:02

If the system is complicated enough, then yes he can. But I think he's gone too far really, even if he doesn't get found guilty of something in this investigation his credibility is being really stretched. Maybe too far.

Something I just couldn't buy from John Key the last two days is his assertion that HC should have stood Winnie down 6 months ago. If Key was in the same position as Helen, with poor public support, the opposition capitalising on it, and Winston Peters holding the stability of government together, he wouldn't have stood Peters down and risked a collapse.

The bit that gets me is not the donations, as I have fairly liberal views on that, its the $158k that he still owes the public.  The money that came from us.  Yet as Winnie says, its not illegal.  I wish I could pass a law to make my actions legal and spend $158k of tax money too.  edward l2008-08-29 21:39:50