Definitely David but divided over which

The Labour Party is united by the desire to be led by a David but there appears to be divisions between the members and caucus over which one.

The idea of running a primary by taking the contenders to the members seemed like a good idea at the time, after all what is a party without its membership base?

And it might have worked had the majority of members and caucus been of one mind.

But if discussion on The Standard is anything to go by, they’re not:

David Cunliffe performed very well today at the Auckland meeting, he is certainly a Dave that we need to have at the forefront of a reform agenda.

Once again with Shearer we see a politician who, really, you just want to hurry up and finish talking already. . . .

And

Just got back from Auckland Labour leadership meeting, Cunliffe and Mahuta absolutely superb clearly shaping up to be a very good political leadership team.

And:

Robinson out shone Shearer who constantly opened himself up to be attacked by making naive statements about woman and made judgement statements about who’s question was more important, oh dear! Both Shearer and Robinson where unable to answer questions on the economy as would be needed to take on Key or English. . . .

The vote now is in caucus hands should they not vote for Cunliffe and Mahuta I suspect Mps  such as Jacinda will learn a harsh lesson in politics that is when it comes to Leadership you vote best persons for the job not what’s in it for you. To those who are in the ABC club in the caucus I would say this, it cant be anyone but Cunliffe who takes us forward because Shearer is just not up to the job and both him and I know it and I suspect so do you. . .

And

It has to be Cunliffe, Shearer just does not gel with me at all.   When I first saw him on TV, I was reminded of Ol’ W, and how glad everyone was, when they had a president that ‘made sense’.

Nothing against him as a man or politician, however we are talking the next leader of the Labour party and we HAVE to get this right . . .

And

Just what I have been thinking since the leadership position became vacant.  I just can’t see the  quick mind, charisma and self-assurance in Shearer that will be necessary in Parliament and on tv!It has to be Cunliffe! Please Labour caucus, don’t let the Nats be there for another 6 years!!

And

. . . Of course, my opinion was not based on one meeting, but the meeting did confirm to me that Cunliffe, indeed, inspires me the most and has the best credentials.

It sounds like this is the opinion of the majority of the members who have attended the meetings…

But going by the support Team Shearer has – and from the response from the MP above – it’s a done deal.

And

“you can’t judge a person’s leadership qualities by a one-off speech and questions”

…which is why we must take into account performance in the house, performance in front of the media and all of these other aspects.

Across the board it is increasingly clear.

Cunliffe > Shearer

And

There is no contest. It’s Cunliffe and (hopefully) Mahuta. Anything less will be eventual political suicide.

What worries me… too many personal agendas amongst a number of Labour MPs who will vote both of them out of the game. If that happens, I will have to review my membership.

And let’s add instability through a potential challenge from the deputy to the mix:

So at this afternoon’s selection meeting Robertson was asked point blank if he would challenge Shearer for the leadership within 3 years. The question was ruled out of order but Robertson decided to answer anyway. He angrily recounted his wonderful Labour credentials and history of working for the party. He never gave anything even approaching an assurance that he would not challenge for the leadership. The silence was deafening.

And

The dilemma is he was for Parker and bailed. Will he bail on Shearer? Is it bad to want to be the leader of Labour? No ,to attain the office you need to put yourself out there. If Robertson needed to replace anyone in the near future Shearer would be the easier option. . .

And

 . . . I have to admit that David Shear has impressed me with his low-key relax approach,  but he made such comments as Tisard’s ’bruising experience’ of being as a female MP and so on were too out-of-date, too white-middle-class-male, and silly.

Style can be polished or re-shape, and yet to change/update one’s mindset is much harder. So I’ll go for David Cunliffe. 

And

Lets be honest the whole DC is not liked is straight out jealousy. Lets face it Helen C trusted Cunliffe and while I didnt always agree with what she did or how she did it, but she was no mug when it came to establishing who has talent and who has shall we say less. . .

And there’s plenty more where these came from to show that the new leader, whoever he is,  will have a lot of work to do to build bridges between the divisions in caucus and between caucus and the wider membership.

Keeping Stock reckons there will be trouble at t’mill and Cactus Kate is already ordering popcorn.