KEY POINTS:
Dunedin South MP David Benson-Pope seems unlikely to abandon the party which abandoned him on Saturday.
The Labour Party selected Dunedin public relations consultant Clare Curran as its candidate to contest the election this year. Mr Benson-Pope will have been the Labour MP for the electorate for nine years by the time of the election.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times yesterday, Mr Benson-Pope said the one thing he valued most in life was loyalty. He felt he had always been a loyal member of the Labour Party and it was likely to remain that way.
But he expressed some disappointment about the loyalty shown to him in some quarters of the party. Asked to explain, he took his time in forming an answer.
"There is no useful reaction I can make when someone doesn't keep their word to you. I don't think there are any winners in this process. I believe it is politically damaging for the party. You should see the many messages I have here."
He remained as the electorate MP until the election and would continue that role with as much energy and professionalism as he always had.
The electorate would make its own judgment on the dumping of an experienced MP with an extensive network of contacts for a new candidate.
He would be surprised and disappointed if his supporters did not continue supporting Labour. They would make their own call on supporting individual candidates, Mr Benson-Pope said.
He dismissed claims by National Party leader John Key that he was likely to stand as an independent candidate at the election.
"As most of New Zealand knows, Mr Key often gets things wrong. I value loyalty; question answered."
Prime Minister Helen Clark had been in contact with Mr Benson-Pope before and after Saturday's selection meeting but he declined to give any indication of the exchange.
Asked how he would cope with remaining the electorate MP when Ms Curran was the party's candidate, he said he had no idea of what Ms Curran's campaign would be like and he would not be involved.
"There is a new candidate, I am the incumbent MP, end of story," Mr Benson-Pope said.
Ms Curran said she would be working hard to build relationships within the party, the branches throughout the electorate and branch members.
She wanted to ensure members felt involved in her campaign, which starts today, to get elected.
"I don't have all the answers. I will be taking lots of advice and seeking that advice from the party and people locally.
"There are lots of people with lots of experience in Dunedin and the party - in both electorates."
She would take advice on how to campaign and was already planning a campaign team.
The realisation that she was the Labour Party candidate for Dunedin South was sinking in as she enjoyed a quiet day at home with family.
"I'm not jubilant. This is very serious, it's much bigger than me."
In 2005, it seemed Mr Benson-Pope was barely out of the headlines with allegations he abused pupils while a teacher in the 1980s. In May that year, he stood down from his portfolios pending the investigation into the allegations he assaulted pupils while a teacher, a career in which he spent 24 years. Police decided not to prosecute him despite saying there was a prima facie case against him.
In 2004, he had been heralded as a man on the rise, being groomed to become education minister. Then last year he resigned from Cabinet after weeks of controversy over his involvement in the Madeleine Setchell sacking.
After weeks of denying he had played any part in her removal as the Environment Ministry's head of communications - due to her partner Kevin Taylor being John Key's press secretary - Mr Benson-Pope admitted he had not told the whole truth and resigned from Cabinet.
Ms Curran has been in the headlines herself, when the State Services Commission investigated the way she came to be contracted at the Ministry for the Environment.
A former ministry staffer earlier claimed Ms Curran was given a contract at the ministry to be Climate Change Minister David Parker's personal watchdog, but this was denied.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES, NZPA
