KEY POINTS:
The election of Phil Goff and Annette King as Labour's leader and deputy leader respectively makes superb strategic sense for the party.
Installing Goff as leader is the smartest way of dealing with the succession problem created by the resignations of Helen Clark and Michael Cullen, who leave gaping holes in Labour's ranks even though they have yet to quit Parliament; and the retirement of Steve Maharey, who left a bigger hole than many people anticipated.
Labour's next generation of leadership isn't ready to hold the top job in the party. Goff has been ready and waiting for years.
However, installing someone from that new generation as deputy leader would have risked endless speculation about when Goff was going to be rolled.
The obvious downside to the Goff-King pairing is that both have been in Parliament since the Lange years of the 1980s, thereby maintaining a perception which National will exploit that Labour is being run by ageing baby-boomers.
At 55, Goff is eight years older than Prime Minister-elect John Key, while King is 61. There will have to be major rejuvenation of the rest of Labour's front bench to compensate.
The Goff-King duo enables Labour to hit the ground running before the new Government is barely up and running. Both are consummate politicians and also - vital for Opposition - natural attack politicians.
Their huge parliamentary and ministerial experience means they know intimately the vulnerable points of any Government - thus where to attack and when to attack. They know National's honeymoon is likely to be short because of the expected deepening recession. They will hope to score points big-time out of John Key's inexperience.
The pair have the advantage that there is not massive resentment of Labour compared with some past election defeats.
The party's mix of fiscal and social responsibility remains the right one for a centre-left party.
There is no need to waste time in purgatory. While Labour will critically analyse why it lost last Saturday, there is no need to engage in some lurch to the left. Goff and King, more to the right of the Labour caucus, will stop any push in that direction.
The pair are friends, having spent a large portion of their ministerial careers as benchmates in Parliament. King does not want to be Prime Minister and thus does not want to be leader. She therefore does not pose any threat to Goff which a younger, fresher-faced deputy might have.
The latter development would have allowed Labour's opponents to paint Goff as a stopgap leader. Goff instead has time to cement his leadership into place without constantly having to look over his shoulder.
If it is seen as necessary for a new face - such as Maryan Street, David Cunliffe or Shane Jones - to take over the deputy's job closer to the next election, then that can be done without destabilising Goff.
The other big plus in King taking the deputy's position is that it provides time for future leadership front-runners to sort themselves out.
As part of the deal ensuring a smooth transition from the Clark-Cullen years, Cunliffe, the current front-runner, has been appointed to the plum job of finance spokesman.
It is a major promotion for the former diplomat, economist and business consultant. But it is also designed to be a major test of the political skills of the hugely ambitious Auckland MP who has made a success of his year-long tenure of the difficult health portfolio.
