John Armstrong: Exit not all good news for Goff

National MP for Botany Pansy Wong announcing her resignation. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In securing the political scalp of National's Pansy Wong, Labour has forced a March byelection in her Botany seat that the party could probably quite happily have done without.

Like Caesar, Phil Goff should beware the Ides of March. The short-term benefit of getting rid of Wong, could be easily outweighed by a byelection in which his leadership again comes under scrutiny.

What kind of strategy Labour should adopt in Botany to avoid a repeat of the recent Mana disaster, in which the party dropped votes by the thousands, can await the New Year.

In the meantime, a win is a win is a win. For Phil Goff, Wong's resignation as an MP has brought some much-needed respite from the trials and tribulations afflicting Labour over its selection to replace the Manurewa MP George Hawkins. Denying she was pushed by colleagues into resigning, Wong said her decision to leave politics followed some long-delayed self-reflection. That had included her high-profile roles as an MP and previously as a Cabinet minister. Those had "severely curtailed" the ability of her husband, Sammy, to expand his business interests.

That was an astonishingly generous statement for her to make, given it was her husband's use of the couple's parliamentary travel entitlements that were the reason for the trouble.

Closer to the mark was Wong's acknowledgement that she was becoming a "distraction" shifting attention away from the National-led Government's policy agenda. It was inevitable she would have to resign as gaping holes were rent in the fabric of the independent report by Hugh McPhail. They were filled by incriminating evidence flooding into the office of Labour MP Pete Hodgson suggesting the parliamentary travel entitlements were in fact being used for commercial purposes.

Normally, the major Opposition party would relish the opportunity to go head-to-head with its governing rival in a byelection early in election year - more so given Wong's Botany seat is solid National.

More than 60 per cent of the electorate's party votes went to National, as against 45 per cent nationwide. Just over 25 per cent went Labour's way, as against 34 per cent nationwide.

Labour would seem to have nothing to lose. But National's strong polling and Goff's basement ratings, will mean more focus on his performance.