There’s no question that the tobacco lobbyist turned politician, Todd Barclay, lied to reporter's yesterday about his secret recording of a long-term National party staffer, Glenys Dickson. She had to subsequently resign because of Barclay, who is reported to be a bully.
Amazingly Barclay was able to tell his multiple lies yesterday very convincingly, which is something that usually takes special training. Most backbenchers don't go through such training, which is reserved for MPs who're more often in the public eye like Cabinet Ministers, so it appears that Barclay is a natural right wing politician.
But if getting caught out telling bold faced lies wasn’t bad enough, it was also reported that National tried to hide the fact that they'd used taxpayer funds from the Prime Minister's leadership office to pay Dickson an undisclosed "severance package" to keep things quiet. Taxpayer funded hush money in other words.
Clearly Barclay’s continued lies landed Bill English in politically scorching hot water. It was somewhat unfortunate to see a Prime Minister of New Zealand floundering for answers while attempting a John Key style dismissal of the claims. The awkward English utterly failed to pull it off.
It was highly embarrassing to watch the PM trying to mislead reporters about his knowledge of the secret recordings and then only four hours later own up to making a police statement on the matter, something that English would have obviously remembered doing.
Considering the fact that he'd been covering for Barclay for over a year, you can see why English attempted to maintain the lie. He was basically damned if he did and damned if he didn't. At the end of the day National's idiot advisors got things really badly wrong!
English's confession that Barclay had made a secret recording and told him about it dropped the tobacco lobbyist right in it. Reporters expected that Barclay would resign... instead there was one of the strangest media conferences in New Zealand's political history.
Yesterday, the NZ Herald reported:
They weren’t just misleading statements; they were blatant lies about a potential crime. If Barclay is allowed to just walk away from this and remain an MP it will show just how weak and pathetic National’s stand in Prime Minister really is. It will show that the word integrity isn’t within English’s vocabulary.
Not only does it appear that Barclay conducted an illegal act, as outlined in this post by Andrew Geddis over on Pundit, he has also brought the House of Representatives into disrepute through his continued dishonesty, which is another sackable offence.
If the National led government is to retain any credibility it must stand Barclay down and launch a full inquiry into his misconduct. Barclay must be made to answer the hard questions about his dishonesty and about his alleged bullying. Of course English could just cut to the chase and fire Barclay the bastard forthwith!
In light of the evidence the Police must reopen the investigation into Barclay’s illegal activity… because if they don’t then it points to their complicity in National’s attempted cover-up.
Compare the Police's inaction over Barclay when there is ample evidence that shows a crime has been committed to how they unlawfully raided Nicky Hager’s house and harassed his family. It certainly looks like the Police are playing political favouritism here and only a proper investigation into Barclay will alleviate the appearance that they aren't operating independently of the National party.
Amazingly Barclay was able to tell his multiple lies yesterday very convincingly, which is something that usually takes special training. Most backbenchers don't go through such training, which is reserved for MPs who're more often in the public eye like Cabinet Ministers, so it appears that Barclay is a natural right wing politician.
But if getting caught out telling bold faced lies wasn’t bad enough, it was also reported that National tried to hide the fact that they'd used taxpayer funds from the Prime Minister's leadership office to pay Dickson an undisclosed "severance package" to keep things quiet. Taxpayer funded hush money in other words.
It was highly embarrassing to watch the PM trying to mislead reporters about his knowledge of the secret recordings and then only four hours later own up to making a police statement on the matter, something that English would have obviously remembered doing.
Considering the fact that he'd been covering for Barclay for over a year, you can see why English attempted to maintain the lie. He was basically damned if he did and damned if he didn't. At the end of the day National's idiot advisors got things really badly wrong!
English's confession that Barclay had made a secret recording and told him about it dropped the tobacco lobbyist right in it. Reporters expected that Barclay would resign... instead there was one of the strangest media conferences in New Zealand's political history.
Yesterday, the NZ Herald reported:
National MP Todd Barclay admits he informed PM Bill English about secret recordings
Reading from a prepared statement, Barclay said it was important he clarify his earlier statements to media.
…
"I'm sorry if any of the answers I gave this morning were misleading," Barclay said, before walking away before answering any questions, including why he lied.
They weren’t just misleading statements; they were blatant lies about a potential crime. If Barclay is allowed to just walk away from this and remain an MP it will show just how weak and pathetic National’s stand in Prime Minister really is. It will show that the word integrity isn’t within English’s vocabulary.
Not only does it appear that Barclay conducted an illegal act, as outlined in this post by Andrew Geddis over on Pundit, he has also brought the House of Representatives into disrepute through his continued dishonesty, which is another sackable offence.
If the National led government is to retain any credibility it must stand Barclay down and launch a full inquiry into his misconduct. Barclay must be made to answer the hard questions about his dishonesty and about his alleged bullying. Of course English could just cut to the chase and fire Barclay the bastard forthwith!
In light of the evidence the Police must reopen the investigation into Barclay’s illegal activity… because if they don’t then it points to their complicity in National’s attempted cover-up.
Compare the Police's inaction over Barclay when there is ample evidence that shows a crime has been committed to how they unlawfully raided Nicky Hager’s house and harassed his family. It certainly looks like the Police are playing political favouritism here and only a proper investigation into Barclay will alleviate the appearance that they aren't operating independently of the National party.
