Labour Party leader Andrew Little has unveiled his shadow Cabinet of 22 MPs today. Among the big names, Jacinda Ardern has been rewarded, moving from ninth up into fifth slot, Kelvin Davis nudges up from eighth to seventh and Phil Twyford moves from fifth to fourth. Megan Woods has been promoted to the front bench sitting at 10th.
Opinion by Claire Trevett
Claire Trevett is the New Zealand Herald’s Political Editor, based at Parliament in Wellington.
If Labour's reshuffle does anything, it will stop leader Andrew Little getting the nickname 'Chicken Little.'
After successive leaders tip toed around the issue of David Cunliffe, Little has finally been brave enough to take the bull by the horns and simply dump him down the rankings with little hopeof any return flight.
The dumping has come with some glitter attached but all up, that simply makes it the proverbial polished turd.
Mr Cunliffe has effectively gone from being the leader to the ignominy of being an Under Secretary to the leader. It will mean Mr Cunliffe is charged with the "spade work" in developing options for the party's policy on superannuation and reporting on those to Mr Little directly.
That may be hard, given Mr Little has effectively already taken the easiest options for addressing the cost of superannuation off the table. Mr Little has dismissed raising the retirement age and any forms of means testing. There are few other easy options to address it. And ultimately it will be Mr Little and the front bench who decide whether to adopt Mr Cunliffe's remedies, not David Cunliffe himself.
Mr Little insisted that under-secretary role was meaningful and a show of confidence in Mr Cunliffe. He managed to avoid answering the question of whether it was a signal Mr Cunliffe should call time.
But Mr Little has left little hope of a way back for Mr Cunliffe. His shadow Cabinet this time is the one he intends to take into Government if Labour is successful in 2017. Mr Cunliffe is not in it.
Mr Cunliffe was putting a brave face on it saying simply that he was determined to work toward a Labour victory in 2017 and "looking forward to working with and reporting to directly to Andrew Little on policy projects".
But if it was a hint for Mr Cunliffe to find an alternative career path Mr Cunliffe also added that he was "proud to represent the people of New Lynn".
That is effectively a reminder that he is a constituency MP and it is up to the voters to decide whether he should go, not Little.
Mr Little may have dispelled any 'Chicken Little' nickname in putting aside the usual approach of keeping thine enemies close. But in doing so, he may well have got himself into a dangerous game of chicken with Mr Cunliffe.
