The eight-legged political beast
It was a creature unlike any other ever seen before at a Hawke’s Bay A&P show. It was an eight-legged, fourheaded beast with more gleaming teeth than a salty crocodile and it cut a swathe through the humming throngs like a shark through a school of fish.
Only when it got nearer was it evident that this oddity hadn’t escaped from a pen holding the five-legged sheep and the twoheaded alpaca, and that the beast was in fact four men.
So tightly-bound was leader of the Opposition Simon Bridges to his MPs Nathan Guy, Lawrence Yule and Hamish Walker, they moved as a singular entity.
This must have been the personification of the ‘‘55 strongly unified MPs’’ the embattled leader had just told a small group of local supporters about over morning tea.
Bridges was at the show to launch the ‘‘Have Your Say’’ campaign aimed at the rural sector. The launch, and accompanying morning tea, was preaching to the converted – the group of 50-odd folks in attendance seemed relatively undiminished in the face of the Jami-Lee Ross scandal.
One man, asked what he thought of all the media coverage, replied: ‘‘It’s that other dirty mongrel that you should be covering.’’
Tukituki MP Lawrence Yule had ensured a few local sikhs came along. The effort made to ensure Bridges was snapped with the guests was farcical. The local Chinese community either didn’t know the event was on, or hadn’t been invited, because it was nowhere to be seen.
From the moment Bridges arrived, it was obvious his entourage had been instructed to stick to him like glue.
Coming here was probably just the tonic Bridges needed and anyone who’d put a dollar on every time he, Guy or Yule said ‘‘backbone of the economy’’, ‘‘powerhouse of economy’’ or ‘‘heartland’’ would have earned a small fortune.
It was no surprise that he seemed relaxed in front of tables of nodding heads, but he did seem curiously composed when facing media questions. A background as a prosecutor is no doubt a benefit. Tables can turn quickly in the court room, just as in the public eye, and Bridges doesn’t look like someone about to rest his case anytime soon.
Horses and riders in the 1.3m showjumping category bounded jumps in the background as he spoke. The odd clatter of a rail hitting the ground was a salient reminder of Bridge’s journey over the past week.
He made the customary attacks on Labour’s ‘‘talkfests’’, working groups, taxes and so on but one got the feeling that even he saw his heart wasn’t in it. EDITORIAL PG 12