On the Tiles: Will the Stuart Nash drama resonate with voters?

Will the downfall of former Police Minister Stuart Nash (left) impact Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in the long run? Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

New revelations about comments to donors this week saw Napier MP Stuart Nash lose his Government portfolios - but will there be wider repercussions from the contentious events?

The saga has dominated political discussions this month, ever since Nash was first demoted as a result of revelations he had complained about a sentencing to Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.

On Tuesday night, Nash was sacked from Cabinet after it was revealed he had disclosed confidential Cabinet information to former donors via email.

While the incident has likely torpedoed Nash’s political career, attention has now turned to the Prime Minister’s office. Two staffers have apologised for their handling of an Official Information Act request centred on communications between Nash and a list of donors. The email that cost Nash his place in Cabinet was considered but ultimately not released as part of the request.

On this week’s episode of On the Tiles, the New Zealand Herald’s politics post, host and deputy political editor Thomas Coughlan is joined by Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls to discuss the scandal and if it resonates as a “conspiracy or cock-up”, which Coughlan coined in a column this week - and was picked up by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins when addressing the media.

“He said ‘in the conspiracy versus the cock-up debate, I obviously lean more towards the cock-up’,” Walls said.

Walls argued that Labour is throwing Nash under the bus as “the damage has been done” with his career and it is easy enough to point the blame on him for having sign-off on OIA requests - but that can go both ways, as mistakes can be made on all sides.

The saga has been picked up on by Opposition parties to target the Government, but Coughlan said the complexity of the case means there are two ways this could go in the eyes of the public.

“Unless this gets really, really ugly, voters might ignore it and focus on the leadership.

“The counter-argument is the sleaze allegations that are embroiling the British [Conservative] Party that are very clearly bringing them down,” he said, noting that the allegations impacting the UK Government are of a larger magnitude.

“You’d have to have multiple events like this dogging multiple senior ministers, and there’s no evidence that all the way up to the top there are any issues.”

However, he noted that National is trying to pin this on the Prime Minister’s Office - and if that sticks, it could be damaging.

Listen to the full episode of the On the Tiles podcast for more on the email saga, how the other political parties reacted, and on the “JFK-level” analysis of Marama Davidson’s “cis white men” comment.

On the Tiles is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are available on Fridays.