Hone to abandon Northland

Washed up in this Friday's shit dump: the other Hone from up North, John Carter, is being made the ambassador/Lieutenant Governor of the Cook Islands.More interestingly than giving one of their own MPs a five year vacation in Raro - such blatant political patronage and undermining of the professional state service has never been something any government has felt embarrassed about - was the appointment date: August. If we are having an election on 26 November as the PM had told us - and the Governor-General - why is the Northland MP's appointment in August? If the general election was in June or July that would make sense.

[eerie silence... distant cough...]

Anyway, it has been my firm opinion that appointing Winston Peters to be the High Commissioner to the Cook Islands would be the smart thing for the Tories to do. It would seal his permanent exit from the political scene, and allow his elderly, conservative voters to drift back to National. Winston does have an association with the Cooks beyond just the "winebox" case and he would have to seriously consider it if it was offered. It must be more appealing than fighting another two election campaigns as a leader with no parliamentary seats and funding.