Sutton feels the pain of political 'rejuvenation'

Jim Sutton

Labour has taken the first sensitive step of its rejuvenation process, farewelling rural and trade veteran Jim Sutton in favour of a young Wellington lawyer.

Mr Sutton yesterday confirmed he would retire on August 1 after more than 18 years in the Labour caucus - paving the way for Charles Chauvel to enter Parliament from No 44 on the party's list.

The departure of Mr Sutton had been well foreshadowed, and Prime Minister Helen Clark is known to be seeking dignified exits for several of the party's ageing list MPs before the next election.

Mr Sutton yesterday made it clear he had mixed feelings about going.

He would have liked to stay longer to "finish more of what I started", he told the Herald. "But the fact of public life is that you don't get those opportunities very often ... it's the nature of the business."

Considerable backroom manoeuvring preceded the announcement, including the offer of plum diplomatic posts to Mr Sutton to tempt him to move on.

He said the offers included roles in Ottawa, Washington and Canberra, but he turned them down for personal reasons. Instead, Mr Sutton will take on a newly created role as a "roving" trade ambassador on a maximum annual pay of $40,000.

He will also become chairman of State-owned enterprise Landcorp, which paid its chairman $52,000 a year in 2005 and 2004, according to its annual report.

"If I didn't think I could add value in each of these jobs I wouldn't be taking them on. I have a certain pride, and I wouldn't really want a sinecure," Mr Sutton said.

Several Labour MPs holding electorates are considered likely to retire at the next election, including former Cabinet ministers Marian Hobbs and Paul Swain.

They, and any other electorate MPs considering retirement, would however be seriously discouraged from going earlier because it would force byelections in their seats.

But retiring list MPs would be replaced by the next person on the Labour list, helping the Clark rejuvenation process.

Among those who have been the centre of speculation, list MP Dover Samuels told the Herald yesterday he planned to stay until the next election.

But he would not confirm that he expected to continue to hold a ministerial post until then.

Russell Fairbrother has said he plans to stay on and fight to regain the Napier seat.

However list MPs Ann Hartley and Dianne Yates yesterday refused to say whether they planned to contest the next election.

Ms Hartley said: "I've been quite clear about my decision, I'll let everybody know in good time and I haven't made a decision yet. I've got nothing to add."

Ms Yates said: "It's a long way before the next election, there's a long way to go before selection even starts. Right now I'm very busy chairing the foreign affairs and trade select committee, I'm on the education select committee and I'm very busy in the electorate and I have no plans of doing otherwise right now."

Fellow list MP Georgina Beyer said it was common knowledge that she would not contest the next election.

Asked if she planned to stay an MP until then, she said: "Watch this space, I suppose, say no more."

Jill Pettis, who lost Wanganui, could not be contacted yesterday.


CAREER FACTS

* Has held agriculture, forestry, rural affairs, biosecurity, trade negotiations portfolios.

* Helped build new relationship with China.

* Won respect for trade negotiations work.

* Fell out of favour with sectors of farming community for proposal for walking access reforms, also the infamous "fart" tax. The Government backed down on both.

* Lost Aoraki seat in last year's general election.