Barclay should go now, says woman at centre of scandal
The woman at the centre of the scandal around ousted National MP Todd Barclay says he should have resigned immediately rather than wait until the election.
Glenys Dickson worked for Barclay in the Clutha-Southland MP’s Gore electorate office until last year. She resigned after learning Barclay had covertly recorded her.
Barclay initially denied any wrongdoing but once Prime Minister Bill English revealed he knew Barclay had recorded Dickson and that Dickson had received a settlement, the young MP said he would not stand in the Clutha-Southland electorate in September’s general election.
Speaking for the first time since the revelations, Dickson said he should have gone earlier.
‘‘I feel the honourable thing to do perhaps was to just resign immediately.’’
She said she felt ‘‘quite sad’’ for Barclay. ‘‘He had a very bright future ahead of him and he just let himself down. There actually isn’t any joy in me for going through this process.’’
Dickson said she was undecided about any future she might have with the National Party. She is a Gore District councillor.
‘‘I just want to get on with my life and be a good councillor.’’
Barclay’s demise has caused strife in one of National safest electorate seats.
The party has a month to find a
replacement for him.
Its constitution says candidate selections must be made within two months of the date of a general election, in this case by July 23.
Finance Minister Steven Joyce, who is also National’s campaign manager, highlighted the time constraints during a visit to Gore and Balclutha on Wednesday.
‘‘With less than 100 days to the election, this needs to be done expeditiously,’’ he said.
National Party president Peter Goodfellow said the selection schedule would be announced shortly.
Meanwhile, a decision on whether to reopen the police investigation into Barclay’s alleged criminal recordings is expected next week.
A police spokesman said work was still under way to understand the nature of new information that had emerged in recent days. It is illegal to intercept any recordings you are not a party to.
After English’s admission on Tuesday that it was Barclay who had told him in a face-to-face meeting that he had left a dictaphone running in the office of Dickson, without her knowledge, Barclay stood before media and read a statement that he accepted English’s version of events.
That statement is one of a number of new pieces of information police are assessing, in consideration over whether to open the police investigation.
It could be treated as an admission from Barclay that he made recordings of Dickson without her knowledge and without being in a conversation with her.