In view of the loudly-expressed opposition which had been building, Mr Key's decision could well be seen as consummate politics, since he could now blame Maori for the hold-up.
But that doesn't wash with those of us who expected a far greater degree of pragmatic and purposeful leadership from the man we put in charge of our nation's affairs. It left a rather nasty taste in the mouth.
Then came the sordid John Banks campaign contributions affair.
However, some good may come of it: Mr Banks' disreputable career in both national and local politics will come to a sudden end next year and the Act Party will disappear at last and without trace. Those can only be good things for the country.
And that brings me naturally to the persistent Kim Dotcom affair, in which the cherubic and corpulent internet millionaire has John Banks and John Key running round like chickens with their heads cut off.
The whole thing would be hilarious if it weren't for the sinister activities of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation, which initiated the whole affair, and the legal laxity of our own Government Communications Security Bureau, which makes the phrase "intelligence service" an oxymoron.
The FBI, known almost since its inception for its domineering arrogance, illegally took material which a New Zealand court said it shouldn't have. Obviously, the laws of a little country at the bottom of the world meant nothing to its agents.
But as far as the GCSB is concerned, it does not matter one bit who was told what and when, because the buck stops firmly on the Prime Minister's desk. That Mr Key at first denied he had been briefed on the matter, then turned around and had to admit that he had, is just another example of his increasingly bumbling behaviour.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party, under the vapid leadership of David Shearer, stumbles along without making any useful contribution to the political scene and languishes at just 32 per cent in the polls.
The Greens, however, seldom seem to put a foot wrong and their poll rating stays either steady or grows a bit.
The Peters party, too, is holding its own if not improving, which is inevitable given that so many fall for Winston's populist posturings.
That fills me with dread. Are we always to be saddled with "governments" in which the Maori Party or, heaven forbid, the Greens, end up calling the shots?
If John Key doesn't pull finger smartly and get on with the job we've entrusted to him, that ominous political future threatens.
Garth George will be absent next week while he moves house.
garth.george@hotmail.com
