A day after Labour rebranded themselves as the party most concerned with day-to-day cost of living issues of ordinary Kiwis, which they tell us their team is best placed to address, out comes Finance Minister Robertson with his decision not to contest the electorate seat of Wellington Central in 2023 and become a list MP, the reason being he is too busy:
"Being Minister of Finance is a huge job, and does often draw you away from electorate responsibilities," he said. "I am particularly conscious of that now as the country enters a challenging economic period. Those challenges are likely to last for some time".
Let's compare his "huge job" characterization of being a Minister in one of the smallest countries in the world with what Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had to say about being an electorate MP for Finchley, in London, whilst she was pulling the United Kingdom out of the oil shocks, dealing with inflation of 20%, unemployment of 10%, reforming the entire UK economy, ending the Cold War with the Soviet Union and fighting the Falklands War.
"All MPs make it their business to be seen in their constituencies but few do so with as much gusto as Margaret Thatcher. When the going gets tough in Whitehall, PM Thatcher goes back to Finchley. “When you have had a particularly difficult time, or desperately busy time when things have been a little bit fraught, you immediately want to come home to people you have known and been with and worked with for years,” she said. “As you go round you will start talking about problems which are very personal and very real .. Then you see that the problems that you are faced with do not touch your life at such a deep level as the real tragedies.” Finchley is never far from the Premier's mind when it comes to small talk after negotiations are over for the day in Washington, Moscow, or Nairobi".
Yes, Maggie Thatcher could be bothered spending time on the day-to-day personal problems in her electorate, all whilst having a job way harder than simply being Finance Minister of NZ. In fact, she argued all of her life that it made her a better PM. If Robertson doesn't have enough in his tank anymore then he should resign fully from politics.
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