COMMENT: Pike River Re-entry Minister Andrew Little was asked if he'd resign if the re-entry to the wrecked mine early next year failed - he ummed and ahhed without giving a firm answer when the answer was bleedingly obvious.
Of course he'd resign, his portfolio would cease to exist, the cause would be lost and that'd be an end to the matter.
The bigger question, put to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, saw her in a pickle, fumbling for words. That was whether the Government would resign - but the answer to that is also bleedingly obvious: of course it wouldn't.
The fallout since the much-heralded decision in front of weeping families this time last week to go into the mine at the latest cost of $36 million has seen an ugly side to the politics behind the issue.
The politics of it actually began before the last election with NZ First leader Winston Peters making re-entry his coalition bottom line. As a young man Peters worked in mines in Australia and he seemed to say going into the Pike River one was a piece of the old proverbial.