Manawatu Standard

Morgan tells candidate to resign - you’re a pain

- LAURA WALTERS

TOP leader Gareth Morgan has sent an ‘‘upsetting’’ email to one of the party’s candidates, telling her to resign.

Morgan signed off with an insult, telling TOP tax spokespers­on and 2017 election candidate Jenny Condie she was ‘‘a pain in the arse’’.

The controvers­ial leader sent Condie the email on Thursday night after she asked Morgan to hold a meeting with candidates and volunteers to talk about the future direction of the party.

Condie said a tweet Morgan sent following the death of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s cat, Paddles, had upset some of TOP’S candidates and volunteers.

After the cat was run over and killed on Tuesday, Morgan responded by speculatin­g the cat may have been wandering, adding that wandering cats were pests and posed a risk to New Zealand wildlife.

Condie said this tweet, during a time when Ardern was mourning her cat, was consistent with other inflammato­ry comments he had made in the past.

These types of comments were ‘‘an ongoing issue for many members and volunteers in the party’’, Condie said, adding that staff and volunteers had been expecting an internal discussion following the party’s election result, where it achieved 2.4 per cent of the party vote (not enough to get a seat in Parliament).

Morgan responded to Condie’s request with the email that read: ‘‘Hi Jenny, Please just resign from the party – you’re a pain in the arse. Ka kite ano, Gareth.’’

Condie said that after receiving the email she got in touch with friends for ‘‘moral support’’. ‘‘I was a little bit upset.’’

But she said the email wasn’t ‘‘out of the blue’’.

‘‘I’ve come to expect that sort of behaviour from Gareth.’’

The economist-turnedpoli­tician made a number of comments that were considered insulting during the election campaign.

Morgan has not responded to requests for comment.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from New Zealand