KEY POINTS:
Four singers in the Labour caucus got more exposure than they had gambled for yesterday when the delayed arrival of Prime Minister Helen Clark to the party congress left a spare 10 minutes to fill. Statistics Minister and master of ceremonies Darren Hughes had exhausted his repertoire of one liners and was about to fill the time with an exposition on the release of the latest Retail Merchandise figures from Statistics NZ when someone came up with the idea of getting the MPs up to sing a special song.
The ditty, to the tune of the Kenny Rogers' classic The Gambler, is to be performed at Parliament tonight in a charity benefit for the Mary Potter Hospice.
It was performed first on Saturday night at a Labour Party function and for the second time yesterday by Housing Minister Maryan Street, Social Development Minister Ruth Dyson, Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick and list MP Moana Mackey.
The song is an attack on National leader John Key and suggests that backroom strategist Murray McCully is running his agenda.
POLITICAL HIT
An excerpt of the lyrics, to the tune of Kenny Roger's The Gambler
Verse three
Now little John Boy knows the secret to surviving
Is not telling anyone, what he really thinks
So he'll just say whatever, Murray's written for him
But when you are swallowing dead rats, you begin to stink.
Verse four
And sitting in the darkness, of his Parnell mansion
John asks the question, can I get away with it
Cos if you've got no policy, and if you've got no vision
People soon enough work out - that you're full of s -
Chorus
You've got to know not to trust him (not to trust him), not to believe him (don't believe him)
know what he tells you, won't be the truth
We can't let him run the country 'cos he's just not able
you need more than a cheesy smile, to rule the roost.
