With the allegations made by a former flatmate unproven, MP Sam Uffindell has been welcomed back into the National Party caucus.
Video / Mark Mitchell
OPINION:
The first sign that National's leader Christopher Luxon did not want the Sam Uffindell saga associated with the party was in the backdrop of the press conference at which he announced Uffindell would stay on as an MP.
Usually, a National Party banner is behind the leader for suchpress conferences. For this one, it was the horrid orange curtains of the caucus room windows. Not a party logo was in sight.
First impressions count and few MPs have had such a fraught start to their careers as Uffindell on that count.
National's caucus may have let him back in but the questions around him in voters' minds will linger.
They will linger too in the minds of the National Party faithful when Uffindell goes up for selection to stand again in the 2023 election - especially if some compelling challengers put their hands up for the job.
The rush of a byelection can rule some people out - general elections are easier to plan for.
Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell with National Party president Sylvia Wood and leader Christopher Luxon. Photo / Mark Mitchell
While Luxon may have said he has "full confidence" in Uffindell after KC Maria Dew's report into his actions at Otago University, that confidence is conditional.
Luxon's attempts to persuade the public that the National Party's culture was changing – and that he was the man to deliver on that change and put together a strong team - are also dented. The very first selection on his watch has gone awry.
Perhaps the biggest relief for Uffindell – and Luxon – was that no other people had come forward to Dew with stories of ill-treatment at the hands of younger Uffindell.
The question that will linger for Uffindell is what Luxon would have done if the report had stacked up bad behaviour from his university years, and so what he will do if more complaints are made.
The voters of Tauranga will also have questions and they will be tougher questions than the National Party faithful, who selected Uffindell in the first place and may be willing to take their leader's word for it on whether he is now a reformed man.
Dew's report into an allegation Uffindell banged on the door and abused a flatmate at Otago University to the point she fled out of her window was not released – not even an executive summary of the findings or a precis of the findings from Dew herself.
It is understood only a very small number of people within National have the full report.
That was to protect the confidentiality of those spoken to, and what they said – part of a "safe process" for those who were affected to speak.
Not releasing the report may be justified – but it also means questions will linger.
According to the interpretations by those who had read it – Luxon, National Party president Sylvia Wood, and Uffindell – it either all but cleared him or Dew could not stack up the allegations against him either way.
It reportedly found there were differing accounts of what happened on the night his old Otago University flatmate claimed he had banged on her door and shouted at her to move out.
Dew gave Uffindell's account the benefit of the doubt.
Questions will linger because it was clear something did go on in that flat – Uffindell himself made that clear, saying that there was a breakdown in flat relationships and "things were said that I now realise my flatmate overheard".
The difference in the account appears to be that he was not smashing on her door while he said those things.
Choosing Dew for the report was sensible not only because of her experience but because Labour too relied on a report from Dew into allegations of sexual misconduct and bullying by a senior Labour staffer. That means it is unlikely to argue with her findings on this issue.
Deputy PM Grant Robertson couldn't resist a dig at something – but he kept it to a jibe about the timing, saying it was "cynical and desperate" to announce it on the day of the Queen's funeral. He suggested the day after the funeral might have been better.
He noted Labour had at least released an executive summary of the findings of its Dew report. Labour also did not release the full report by Maria Austen after the youth summer camp scandal but did reveal the recommendations and updated its internal policies to reflect them.
The Uffindell palaver will fade into the background but the trouble with unanswered questions is that they hang over politicians at every twist and turn in their political careers.
