Donnelly resigns

NZ First MP Brian Donnelly has resigned from Parliament to take up a position as High Commissioner to the Cook Islands. While I'm sure he'll be good at the job, it's a shame - Donnelly was a good MP, and as his voting record shows, pretty much the only liberal in NZ First. Unfortunately, it seems he's likely to be replaced by Dail Jones - who as Colin Espiner points out, makes Gordon Copeland look like a liberal. The man is so reactionary that he's still fighting the battles of the 1970's. This represents the victory of the ultra-reactionary trend within NZ First (people may remember that last year Jones was threatening to purge Donnelly and Doug Woolerton from the party over their suport for the repeal of section 59) - but fortunately, on current polling, it doesn't look they'll be bothering us much longer.