McCully v Peters - ding dong

Murray McCully has many detractors - but his appointment as Nationals Foreign Affairs spokesman is a smart move. His job is to bait Winston until he does something stupid, or better still, back him into a corner and force him to contradict Helen. Muzza has started - and oh this could be fun.

A couple of days ago the President of Iran for 'the destruction of Israel'. Diplomats the world over have, quite rightly, condemned the statement - Winston hasn't noticed. So McCully put out a press release with this:

"I call on Mr Peters to join the spokespeople for other governments in condemning, on behalf of all New Zealanders, this inflammatory statement from Iran.

"I sincerely hope that Mr Peters's silence on this matter is not the result of pressure from Helen Clark, or caused by a need to wait for her permission before making any statement as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"I also trust that Mr Peters is not under pressure from his predecessor, Mr Goff, who, when visiting Israel, passed up a meeting with Prime Minister Sharon in favour of a photo opportunity holding hands with the late President Arafat," says Mr McCully.

Brilliant!

Winston will laugh this one off, but he will be asked time and time again to prove that he is not 'Helen's bitch' - and he will crack. Forget Foreign Affairs and matters of diplomacy - simply insult the intellect, have a crack at the ego (you simply can not miss), and just as he looks close to cracking - tell him that 'pin strips' are naff.