Editorial: Dissent in party ranks

Opinion

To lose one senior spokeswoman might be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness. It is impossible to go past Oscar Wilde's famous line about parents when assessing Don Brash's sacking yesterday of his social services spokeswoman, Katherine Rich. Last year after his January speech at Orewa on Maori issues the National leader was forced to remove Georgina te Heuheu from her shadow portfolio of Maori Affairs.

This time, his subject is welfarism and the sacrificial MP is Ms Rich. Neither MP, who in normal political convention ought to be the chief adviser to their leader on their subject of responsibility, could wholly support his prescription. Neither, plainly, felt sufficiently consulted, or if consulted, felt that their input was valued enough to influence the sermon from Orewa.

Which is all very untidy for Dr Brash and his party as they try to outmanoeuvre Labour at the beginning of each political year. Ms te Heuheu's departure last year did not derail Dr Brash's advance in opinion polls. The demotion of Ms Rich may well have greater repercussions since she was considered one of the up-and-comers in a particularly small National caucus and this, of course, is election year. Voters punish dissent.

Yet Dr Brash and the advisers who did gain his ear ahead of these two MPs must have reckoned that a strong show of discipline yesterday might cauterise the problem, eliminating the Rich issue as a target for Labour. With Judith Collins promoted to speak on welfare and to back the message of Orewa II, National is ostensibly united.

Two oddities remain, however. One is just why Ms Rich could not agree with what by her own party's standards was relatively common rhetoric on welfare. The other is why Dr Brash waited until yesterday to remove her. Could it have been to steal limelight from the Prime Minister's state of the nation statement by airing his dirty laundry and turning an impression of dissension into one of firm action? From whatever angle, this affair casts doubt on Dr Brash's ability to take people, even his own people, with him on policy. And that is the essence of politics.