Outcast MP plans Labour book

Chris Carter. Photo / Richard Robinson

Outcast Labour MP Chris Carter says he will write a book about the party - unless leader Phil Goff makes up with him.

Then he would wait until he retired to write his book.

Labour president Andrew Little said yesterday that any implied threat in that statement would not alter his thinking as the party's ruling New Zealand council considers disciplinary action against the former Cabinet minister.

"If it is some sort of implied threat that the book will lob a lot of unpleasant remarks about people in it, I'm not prepared to be persuaded by that kind of implied threat, to the extent that it is one," Mr Little said.

Mr Carter told the Herald on Sunday he was planning to write a book about Labour's nine years in power which could be on the shelves next year, just as the next election campaign begins.

"Should Goff and I be reconciled - unlikely but possible - then the book will have to wait until I retire," he told the paper.

Mr Carter is a good friend of former Prime Minister Helen Clark but was not part of her "kitchen Cabinet" or a close political confidant.

He has just returned to work from two months' leave after being kicked out of the Labour caucus for undermining Mr Goff's leadership.

The Te Atatu MP said his electorate committee had encouraged him to get a "negotiated settlement".