Posts by Russell Brown
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Okay, this thing went up several notches just now.
Stuff’s Twitter account is reporting that Key will complain to the police over the matter.
It’s probably a decent strategy for Key and his people – to reframe it as a criminal offence against him – but it’s also a bit creepy.
Edit: John Edwards has pointed out this could backfire if the police don’t find a case to prosecute. That would leave the way open for the HoS to publish.
Edit 2: This puts the police in a difficult position. They could choose to process a complaint with dispatch, but would they?
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to John Farrell,
I know that – I thought some might enjoy it.
I think 3410 was being ironic :-)
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to BenWilson,
To give it authenticity as a cup of tea? And to avoid undermining the authenticity of it by having to actually script a careful conversation about politics, or undermine any political purpose in it at all by talking only pleasantries. It worked better as something seen but not heard.
So your contention is that Bryce Johns has put his head on the block -- and potentially his job on the line -- by entirely fabricating the details of a conversation and telling everyone about this non-existent conversation, including APN's layers and senior executives?
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Meanwhile, what about the serious allegations of influence peddling by Pita Sharples’ electorate manager? Anyone have anything to say about that?
If it's as described in the story, then it is extremely serious. I trust we will hear more on this.
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to Raymond A Francis,
How likely is it these two would say anything incriminating with a scrum of journalists just through the glass,
Well, why clear out the journalists at a media event, then?
hopefully Key was saying he would not be voting for Banks which he did go onto say publicly
Sorry, no. I don’t think Milne, Fisher and Johns would fabricate the fact of an entire “wide-ranging” conversation, including “the pair’s assessment of the prospects of National, Act and NZ First,” and take it to their senior executives and royally piss off the government when such claims could be trivially disproved. That’s ridiculous.
I think it’s a certainty that there is something at least mildly embarrassing in the transcript. Something of the order of JLM’s suggestion above.
If there was a real story, it would out by now
How?
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to Sacha,
oh, missed that.
It was in Johns' Morning Report interview. He said that he hadn't heard the actual recording.
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to JLM,
I’m assuming, probably incorrectly, that the item they don’t want to be made public is a discussion about Banks taking over from Brash as leader of ACT…
Or something of that order, yes. But that's a very good guess.
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to Sacha,
I take it they have already established that the transcript is more damning than the verbal recording complete with tone.
I think everyone’s over-thinking this! They’ve called for a transcript because Johns has said there’s a transcript. I seriously doubt they’ve heard the actual recording.
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to BenWilson,
I frankly think Labour and others should ignore this incident completely, since it is news manufactured by the Herald, and puts them at loggerheads with the Government. The Herald can handle it, they don’t need any help at all making the news up, and if Key gets grumpy with them, they may well bite back. The other parties need nothing to do with this.
Labour has joined the Greens in calling for Key to release the transcript:
Labour's manager Grant Robertson believes the prime minister is trying to put up a smokescreen by focusing on the motives and legality of taping the conversation.
''Frankly that is a side issue to what was actually said between the two Johns.''
New Zealanders should be able to judge for themselves whether the conversation was as bland as Key asserted.
''Otherwise speculation will continue to mount. What did they say about the role of other parties in the government they would like to form? Did the sale of further state assets come up?''
Key and Banks put themselves into the public domain by hosting a media stunt, he said.
And why not? I don't think there's as much potential for blowback as you suggest, and it's not as if they have anything to lose. No one thinks they did it (in contrast with the H-Fee debacle, which was fed to the HoS by Mike Williams). They can just declare that the PM should clear things up.
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to BenWilson,
The thing about this “tea party” is that it’s a contrived photo opportunity, designed quite carefully to convey key messages non-verbally.
I hadn’t watched Stuff’s video of the event until just now.
It’s a right old pantomime. But Banks looks humiliated most of the time.