Cunliffe off to naughty chair
David Cunliffe will be stripped of his portfolios and banished to the back benches for disloyalty today after a leadership vote Labour Party leader David Shearer is set to win easily.
As expected, Mr Shearer summoned his MPs to Wellington yesterday for an urgent vote today in an attempt to force Mr Cunliffe to either ‘‘put up or shut up’’.
On Sunday, Mr Cunliffe said he welcomed an early vote to settle the issue but yesterday he said he saw no need for the early vote and he would back the current leader.
However, he again refused to rule out a tilt in February, when under party rules the caucus must vote to endorse or oppose the leader. Mr Shearer said that statement by Mr Cunliffe changed nothing and he would go ahead with today’s leadership vote.
‘‘I’m holding this vote to demonstrate that I have the support of my caucus and to put recent speculation to bed,’’ he said.
Party sources said that once Mr Shearer received the expected unanimous backing from MPs, he would dump Mr Cunliffe from the top 20 and send him to the ‘‘unranked’’ back benches. Some in the caucus are calling for his close supporters to also be demoted, which could mean bad news for shadow attorney-general Charles Chauvel and energy spokeswoman Moana Mackey. Earlier, senior whip Chris Hipkins attacked Mr Cunliffe, saying he had undermined the current and previous leaders.
‘‘If David Cunliffe wants to challenge for the leadership he should come out of the shadows and get on with it . . . it is totally unacceptable to say: I’ll support David Shearer for now while I work over the summer break to destabilise the leadership and get the numbers to move against him in February.’’
MP Sue Moroney, seen as in the Cunliffe camp, said she too would back Mr Shearer. But no-one could be required to say what they would do in February’s vote.
Before Mr Shearer had sought her backing, no-one had asked for her support for a leadership bid.
She had seen no evidence of disloyalty by Mr Cunliffe.
‘‘I’m quite surprised at the level of the attack on David Cunliffe . . . in the last 24 hours,’’ she said.
Mr Shearer said he would seek the backing of more than 60 per cent of the caucus today, rather than the simple majority strictly required by the rules.
He said the formal endorsement vote in February, when rules would require him to win more than 60 per cent support to avoid a run-off, would also go ahead.