Mike Hosking: Hipkins looks as weak as Ardern over the Nash saga

The old, hi-vis honeymoon of Hawke’s Bay and disaster politics for the Prime Minister is long gone, isn't it? There he was, flailing away on Friday lining up the decision on Stuart Nash for the weekend, looking to draw a line under it so by Monday —as in today— we've all moved on. Sorry Chris, we haven't. Among the many weaknesses of the previous Prime Minister was her inability to instil any real discipline in her people. You could essentially rob a bank and she would find an excuse for you. In fact, ironically the original sin of Nash on this show in 2020 was under her watch. She knew the Solicitor-General was looking at prosecuting and she knew the Attorney General did the telling off. How come she didn't do anything at the time? Because she was incapable of discipline. Hipkins is, sadly, cut from the same cloth. As much as I like Stuart, and as much as I think most of us get the fact he did what he did out of frustration, he broke the rules - and broke them at least twice. You either have rules or you don’t. And in not sacking him Hipkins becomes as big a villain as Nash. Hipkins is soft and/or so short of proper talent he can't afford to lose anyone. The most extraordinary part of the Hipkins explanation came when he stated that Nash claims he couldn’t recall the Attorney General admonishing him for the original crime. That says either Stuart has brain fade, or David Parker's admonishments are so nondescript you might have thought you were having a beer and a game of darts. If it's brain fade then Hipkins' explanation that Stuart has assured him that there is nothing else hiding in the closet is meaningless, given who knows what he remembers or doesn’t. Anyway, the upshot is Stuart lives to operate another day and Chris Hipkins looks like a bloke who puts up with a lot, doesn’t have any talent back up and ends up looking like his predecessor. In the grand scheme of things this doesn’t shift votes. But it does build a case that has already got several worrying pieces to it. When it comes to leadership and being a saviour for the Government in election year, old 'Chippy from the Hutt' ain’t quite the rock star so many in the media fell over themselves trying to make him out to be.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.