Goff best choice to lead Labour

OPINION: It's not surprising to see that the Labour Party has decided to keep Phil Goff and Annette King in the driving seats. Mr Goff and Mrs King were re-elected unopposed at the Labour caucus in Auckland yesterday, ending speculation that Mr Goff was merely a "seat warmer" when he was announced as party leader last year after the resignation of former prime minister Helen Clark.

There were no challengers to the position so it was a pretty easy decision for the party and one which has already led to a few snide remarks about the Labour Party's depth of leadership talent.

Prime Minister John Key was quick to dismiss Mr Goff's re-election, saying the move reflected that Labour had a really shallow talent pool to be fishing in.

Regardless of whether the talent pool is shallow or not, Mr Goff is probably the best person to lead the party forward into the next election.

He certainly does not seem too flustered by opinion polls showing he and his party are not gaining much ground over the seemingly-unstoppable National Party.

In fact Mr Goff even suggested last year that Labour could win the Kaikoura Electorate in the next election.

He even hinted that if a Labour candidate won the Kaikoura seat that he would be there, as prime minister, to welcome a new Labour MP for Kaikoura to Parliament in 2011. At least he does not lack confidence.

Last year Mr Goff apologised for a clutch of unpopular moves made by the previous Labour government - particularly "nanny state" interventions into voters' lives.

He said the public apology was important, acknowledging that there were good reasons why Labour lost the last election.

"You lose an election because a too big a section of the electorate feel that your focus is not on their priorities, their concerns and their hopes for the future . . . you've got to acknowledge that, acknowledge your achievements . . . and then move on," he said at the time.

Exactly what Labour's plans for the future are could be revealed tomorrow when Mr Goff makes his first major speech of the year. Hopefully the speech will generate a bit less controversy than Mr Goff's recent "nationhood" speech, where he was accused of playing the race card.

We look forward to tomorrow's speech to see what direction Mr Goff and the Labour Party will be heading in 2010.

- The Marlborough Express

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