Richard Worth has resigned from parliament.
Dr Worth, who entered Parliament in 1999, said he had gone for the good of the National Party.
“Since I resigned as a Cabinet Minister earlier this month, I have been considering my personal options, and also the welfare of the National Party – a party which I love and have served to the best of my ability for the past nine years.
“As a result, I have today also resigned as a list Member of Parliament with immediate effect.
“It would be easy for me to be bitter about the avalanche of rumour and innuendo that has led me into making this decision which I regard as being in the best interests of my party.
“I wish only to restate that I have not committed any crime, and I remain confident that when the true facts are established I will be cleared of any and all allegations of criminal conduct. I will steadfastly defend myself in respect of those allegations. But it is impossible to defend oneself in the public and political arena against hearsay, character assassination and scuttlebutt.”
Whatever truth there may or may not be in the allegations concerning him, resigning was the right thing to do because continuing in politics would have brought attacks on him and the National Party.
He was a lsit MP so the next person on National’s list, Cam Calder, will be offered Worth’s seat. He was briefly in parliament after the election but lost his palce after special votes were counted and the Greens got an extra seat at national’s expense.
The person on the list after that is Conway Powell.
Kiwiblog has Richard Worth’s media statement.
Homepaddock 
Good riddance.
I was appalled when someone as lightweight as this useless man took over from an MP of the stature of Sir Douglas Graham.
It was even more appalling when Worthless got back in on the list when the voters of Epsom gave him the boot he so richly deserved.
What a lazy, good for nothing sleazebag.
LikeLike
How very gracious you are poneke.
Do you feel the same way about Phil Goff, given his role in Worth’s downfall?
LikeLike
Worth was set up by labour .He played into their trap to discredit National & J Key.Pete HOdson questioned worth inpre Xmas Question Time parliament. The woman & Goth set him up She is a tough cookie not anexploited Lily ! THe Labour Leader thinks she is an exceptional beauty!! Phil Goff knows her better than Worth fraudulent activities and all J.R.M.
LikeLike
Excellent article on on how the present Prime Minister apparently overrode National Party rules, as he wanted control over the top 50 selections, explains how Worth and other unsuitable List MP’s gained power.
..”when it came to ranking the candidates in each region, not only were the sitting MPs excused from justifying themselves – they were pre-emptively promised inclusion into the top 50 list placings. In fact, before regional voting took place, an instruction was read out advising that the regional MPs should be ranked in the order already provided by the National Party leader – a requirement completely against the rules of the party which stipulate that all candidates, inclusive of sitting MPs, are to be treated equally. It is understood that only one regional chair had the gumption to refuse to read out this directive to abandon the rules.”
“Apparently it got worse.”
Read the whole article at
http://brookeonline.livejournal.com/#entry_18769
John Key in my opinion has egg on his face in the manner he has handled the Worth saga.
LikeLike
The Worth affair has left a trail of confusion which is still to be sorted out.
John Key’s biggest mistake was to publicize the Goff evidence. This, surely, was supportive of his original decision to ‘resign’/sack Worth as Minister.
But it had nothing to do with the criminal complaint, and seems to have been just one of a number of Worth rumours doing the rounds.
Nor did it seem to connect with the real reason for the Worth ‘resigning’/sacking. This has never been explained, except in the vaguest terms. But it looks like some sort of Worth double-cross which left JK furious.
Having a secondary complainant vs Worth who unfolded as… first a member of the Labour Party…then an activist…then a candidate…! was not the sort of support Key needed for the Ministerial sacking.
So though the Nats smear campaign vs Choudry cranked up quite effectively, Worth kept looking worse and worse as the ‘evidence’ came out.
Then we had the ‘washing of the hands’ to get Worth out of Parliament, and maybe even the Party. My Sunday School days are long past, but I seem to recall Pontius Pilate saying this as he effectively turned Jesus of Nazareth over to the Sanhedrin/Jewish lynch mob for execution.
The New Testament tells the story of an innocent man denied a fair trial. The Roman power to ensure justice was instead used to enforce the will of the ‘people’.
Did John Key really mean this? Worth is claiming innocence! All Christians should rally round him…
The criminal trial, if it ever happens, will be another interesting chapter in the saga. Meantime Sally has illuminated some of the National Party corridors of power. The real story may lie there.
LikeLike