KEY POINTS:
Grant Fleming
David Benson-Pope will have to fight to stand for Labour at next year's election with the party's biggest union backer putting up a candidate for his Dunedin South seat.
Mr Benson-Pope has held the safe Labour seat since 1999, but his attempt at reselection has surprised some colleagues who thought he would quit after being pushed from Cabinet for misleading the public over the Madeleine Setchell affair.
Prime Minister Helen Clark has avoided endorsing him and today Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) national president Don Pryde announced he would seek selection in Dunedin South.
Mr Pryde who is a member of the seat's local electorate committee said he was confident he could win the contest.
"I would not be putting my name forward if I did not think I could win."
The Labour affiliated EPMU is the country's largest union and one of Labour's key power blocs.
Its secretary Andrew Little, who sits on Labour's national council, today said Mr Pryde, 48, had the union's full backing.
It was time for Mr Benson-Pope to move on, he said.
"My own personal view is that notwithstanding some very good things David Benson-Pope has done in Parliament as a minister, the reality is he has made a fatal misjudgment and at some point the party is entitled to say there is not a future here," he said.
"At a time when the party needs to renew and refresh here's an opportunity to find someone to take his place in the long-term interests of the party."
Mr Little said local union members had "expressed concern" about Mr Benson-Pope's ability to be an effective local MP at a meeting about a fortnight ago.
Mr Pryde, an electrician by trade, would make an excellent candidate, he said.
Under Labour's rules the party's head office effectively has three of the seven votes determining the candidate.
But Mr Little said there had been no discussion of Mr Pryde's potential candidacy at the meeting of the party's executive council last weekend.
Mr Pryde also would not reveal the signals he had been receiving from head office.
But the father of three said he felt it was time to step up to a more public representative role.
He chairs the Electrical Workers' Registration Board and his local primary school's board of trustees.
"Dunedin South is my home. It's where I work and where I send my kids to school and I want to do the best job I can representing my community."
Electorate nominations close on November 9, with a vote expected sometime in the fortnight after that.
- NZPA
