Don Brash's corporate raid on the Act party hit a speed bump on Tuesday.
In a game of chicken with Rodney Hide it was Brash who blinked first, letting Hide stay on as a Minister, despite previously making it clear he wanted him gone.
Brash's reasoning for wanting Act to quit both its Ministerial positions was obvious and strategically sound.
Quitting government and retreating to the backbenches would have given Act more freedom to differentiate from National.
The Ministerial portfolios of Local Government, Association Education and Regulatory Responsibility (Hide) and Consumer Affairs and Associate Commerce (until yesterday held by John Boscawen) are not great public platforms for Act policy and the time spent on appointments, paper work and Parliamentary scrutiny is barely worth it for a party which needs to get out and campaign in the real world.
The reason Brash gave for keeping Hide on as a Minister simply does not stack up.
Brash claims Hide will retain his Ministerial warrant so he can shepherd two important bills through Parliament.
Yet the bills were not important enough that Brash could actually remember what they were both called.
One of them, a bill that would cap public spending, hasn't even been drafted yet and is unlikely to come before Parliament before the election.
Oh, and National doesn't support it anyway so it has no chance of passing into law.
Surely Brash could find a better excuse for Hide to remain a Minister.
He could have told the truth. The truth, it seems, is that Brash was rolled by Hide, who effectively threatened to make trouble if he was sacked as a Minister.
Hide is not someone you'd want as an enemy.
If you doubt that, go back through the files and consider the long list of MPs, Ministers, judges and public servants whose careers were ended by his dogged attacks.
The price of Hide going quietly at the election was the continuation of Hide's Ministerial warrant and Brash paid that price.
He has paid another price too. After appearing decisive and uncompromising in his coup he is already shown to be making shabby deals like any other politician.
How can this be a principled stance? How can the man he said was tarnished, tainted, and not good enough to stand in Epsom, be good enough to be the sole Act MP to remain a Minister?
Oh that's right, that vital piece of legislation that Brash can't remember the name of, doesn't exist yet and won't pass anyway.
If you're going to string us along Dr Brash, you can do better than that.
Read more Guyon Espiner opinion.
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