![John Armstrong: Labour keeps heat on Collins over companion](/pf/resources/images/placeholders/placeholder_l.png?d=791)
John Armstrong: Labour keeps heat on Collins over companion
Judith Collins responded to Opposition questions by insisting the dinner was a private affair and it was not appropriate to disclose the name of attending officials, writes John Armstrong.
Judith Collins responded to Opposition questions by insisting the dinner was a private affair and it was not appropriate to disclose the name of attending officials, writes John Armstrong.
If voters swallow John Key's line that a vote for Labour is a vote for higher interest rates, they will swallow anything the PM puts in front of them, writes John Armstrong.
John Armstrong asks if Labour's poll ratings are partly the result of the party re-fighting old battles that have long been lost or are no longer relevant to voters.
Dotcom has about as much chance of playing kingmaker in 2014 via his just-launched Internet Party as Corkery has of succeeding the Queen to the British throne, writes John Armstrong.
Hone Harawira should think carefully indeed before committing his fledgling Mana Party to any vote-sharing deal with Kim Dotcom's Internet outfit, writes John Armstrong.
It is on income disparity, the cost of living and wages growth (or rather the lack of it) that National is vulnerable, writes John Armstrong.
John Armstrong looks at the most disheartening aspects of today's morale-crushing Herald-DigiPoll for Labour...and why it should hope Key hits a political banana skin pre-election.
Ministers have found themselves booted out of the Cabinet for much lesser crimes than the truly cardinal sin of misleading the Prime Minister, writes John Armstrong.
Russia's President is deserving of respect - the kind you would show if you were in close proximity to a hissing cobra, writes John Armstrong.
In politics, there are bad days. And then there are really bad days. Cunliffe was having one of the latter. It must have been sheer torture, writes John Armstrong.
If things continue to deteriorate, NZ's chief envoy in Moscow could be recalled. Ultimately, the Russian ambassador could be expelled, writes John Armstrong.
Matt McCarten, Labour's new chief of staff, will have to find a way to make Cunliffe palatable to the centre without alienating those on the left, writes John Armstrong.
Tony Ryall is and has always been the archetypal, solid-to-the-core National Party MP who believes that loyalty to one's party is paramount, writes John Armstrong.
McCarten's campaign skills should help draw voters back to Labour in its metropolitan strongholds, writes John Armstrong.
The Labour Party is guaranteed one thing in the countdown to this year's general election: there is no danger of David Cunliffe peaking too soon.
David Cunliffe has probably done enough to avoid Labour suffering too much collateral damage from the Shane Taurima affair, writes John Armstrong.
Norman has probably disqualified his party from having any role in the Justice portfolio, writes John Armstrong.
If Peter Dunne thought everything would be tickety-boo once the Prime Minister reinstated him as a minister, he was wrong, writes John Armstrong.
The Govt is not ruling out even firmer action, such as summoning the ambassador to the Beehive for a face-to-face dressing-down, writes John Armstrong.
In electing Jamie Whyte as the party's new leader, Act's governing board has made the right choice, writes John Armstrong. Realistically, he was the only choice.
In what is quickly becoming a year-long de facto election campaign, one can guarantee National will drum in the message that Cunliffe is a politician who cannot be trusted, writes John Armstrong.
Labour is experimenting with a new tactic to spike the Prime Minister's potent verbal guns, writes John Armstrong. That tactic is to simply ignore him.
John Armstrong asks: "If the policy is really designed to help struggling families, why include households which patently do not need hand-outs from the state to raise children?"
The PM's about-turn on working with Peters was utterly predictable, writes John Armstrong.
To suddenly talk about tax cuts would send a very mixed message about the need for continued restraint in government spending, writes John Armstrong.