Newly elected Labour deputy-leader Jacinda Ardern and leader Andrew Little after their caucus vote at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
It's not a sound you hear very much from Dear Leader Little's Labour Party - the sound of caucus applause ringing out into the corridor, which given what was happening behind the closed door, was a reason for celebration and commiseration.
They were celebrating the cosmetic surgery being applied to
the leadership, the sort of surgery that's eluded Little, the sort that softens his lines, that breaks down what comes across as a brittle exterior.
Even though he'd be the last to admit it, Jacinda Ardern's his political prop to give the leadership a more appealing face, particularly for the young who don't show much interest in politics.
It's an acknowledgement that Andrew Little's leadership wasn't working the way they wanted it to, it needed a new ingredient that'd give it more appeal.
The commiseration was for Auntie Annette King who in a conventional sense was your quintessential deputy, always in the background, never a challenge, cleaning up after the leader and doing the spadework to convince his colleagues that his way was the right way, even though a number of them found what they considered the manure hard to swallow.
