THE POLITICAL WISDOM OF PADDY GOWER

According to journalist Paddy Gower, aspiring Wellington mayor Andrew Little is 'left wing'. He's not.

 

JOURNALIST PADDY GOWER recently wrote a column devoted entirely to praising the Prime Minister's wife, Amanda Luxon. Basing his opinion entirely on listening to her on a podcast, Gower reckoned that the 'incredibly down-to-earth, grounded, principled and thoughtful'  Amanda Luxon had 'the answers to our divided society.' Furthermore, wrote Gower, our parliamentary politicians needed to sit up and take notice of what Amanda was saying.

The column was lampooned by Steve Braunias and deservedly so. But Gower has stepped up to the plate again to provide his readers with another surprising opinion. This time, Gower has described aspiring Wellington mayor Andrew Little as 'left wing royalty'. It's startling analysis like this that obviously caused RNZ National to take on Gower as an occasional presenter.

On what possible basis can Gower claim the former Labour leader is 'left wing'? Little wasn't even left wing when he was President of the Victoria University Students Association back in the day. As both a trade union leader and as Labour leader, Little has been little more than a dull centrist politician. It was his centrist politics that threatened to spiral Labour to certain election defeat in 2017. Little saw the writing on the wall, resigned, and Jacinda Ardern took over. That Ardern failed to deliver the change she promised is another story, but won't be told in her upcoming memoir, A Different Kind of Power.

Gower though isn't entirely to blame for spreading disinformation about Andrew Little's politics. The term 'left wing' continues to be misused as to have been emptied of any real meaning. So a thoroughly right wing party like Labour, a foot soldier for neoliberalism for the past four decades, is still described as 'left wing' by mainstream commentators.

It's also a useful term to wheel out when you want to suggest that  there is a real contest of ideas happening when the two major parties are actually singing from the same song sheet.

That Andrew Little has secured the backing of the Labour Party does not augur well for the kind of Labour Party that will be campaigning next year. It's shaping up to be yet another election where Labour supporters will again present the party as less evil than National. But, unfortunately, New Zealand politics will remain stuck in a decades-old ideological cul-de-sac that has failed ordinary people. But I rather doubt Paddy Gower will have anything to say about that.