Just ask the question John

John Key should follow the quite useful advice that he’s doled out to previous Prime Ministers that they should stand down a minister because of alleged unethical behaviour, says Labour Leader David Shearer.

“It seems Split Enz may have in fact got it wrong and in John Key’s case history does in fact repeat. Three years ago, he urged Helen Clark to ask her minister Winston Peters some ‘plain questions’ and to ‘stand him down’ until he provided her with answers. 

“Yet today he’s refusing to do exactly that in the case of John Banks. There’s a word for that, it starts with H and I can’t use it in Parliament.

“Let’s take a look at some of the contradictions from John Key.

“He once said ‘it is no longer acceptable or credible for Helen Clark to assert a façade of confidence in her Foreign Affairs Minister and to fail to ask the plain questions of him that she has a duty to the public to ask.

He now says: ‘That’s not my responsibility [to ask the questions]. If somebody thinks John Banks isn’t telling the truth, there’s a very simple remedy, they go to the police. That’s not my job to do a forensic examination.

“He once said: “Helen Clark must stand Mr Peters down as a Minister. That is what I would do if I were Prime Minister.

“He now says: “Well, why would he [stand down]. I mean unless he’s misleading me, if he’s misleading me, that’s a different story, you know, ministers from time to time mislead Prime Ministers, they always get the boot, don’t they but that’s not what I think is going to happen here.”

“He once said: Unless he [Winston Peters] can provide a credible explanation about this serious issue, he should be unacceptable to Helen Clark as a Minister in her Labour-led Government.

“He now says:  “No [I haven’t asked whether he knew Dotcom made the donation] and the reason for that…umm…it’s probably worth clarifying that my office asked him the question. But the point that’s probably worth clarifying there is that that’s not my responsibility”

“My advice to John Key is to book in another cup of tea with John Banks and just ask him the question,” said David Shearer.