OK this article is about Gordon Brown but we wonder if the same will happen here. What if Winston's assurances to the PM prove not exactly the whole truth (unlikely as this is)? What is frustrating here is that the wounding would be self inflicted. The right thing to do is for the PM to stand Winston down and clear up the facts. There are now far too many unanswered questions. The PM says Winston can stay on so long as he hasn't done anything illegal. How are we going to know without an investigation? How many trusts have been receiving donations that are being used to fund Winston Peters and NZ First? Has the funding from these trusts to NZ First been declared? Lets have a full audit of these trusts with the auditors asked to report on all receipts and disbursements. Without this kind of investigation the PM is taking an enormous risk. And this risk is beginning to disconcert a growing number of senior colleagues.
Does any of this sound familiar? This from the Herald website
The first cracks in the British Cabinet's support for Gordon Brown appeared yesterday as Labour MPs urged senior ministers to tell him to quit after the party's humiliating defeat in the Glasgow East by-election.
Although cabinet ministers said there would be no immediate attempt to oust the Prime Minister, some predicted he would face a concerted move to force him to stand down in September possibly before the Labour conference, which starts on 20 September.
Ministers acknowledged that the disastrous and unexpected defeat at the hands of the Scottish National Party could prove to be a "tipping point" for Mr Brown.
"The mood is changing," said one source in the Cabinet.
"It is starting to cement."