When it's time to leave, it will be on my terms, says Goff

Leader of the Labour Party Phil Goff. Photo / Natalie Slade

Labour leader Phil Goff says that when the time comes, he intends to step down from the party's leadership of his own volition - indicating he has thought about his exit strategy if Labour's election result is dire.

In an interview with the Weekend Herald for the second in a two-part series on his life, Mr Goff said three times that he intended to decide when the time was right to leave, rather than wait to be rolled.

"When I leave this position it will be of my own volition."

Asked if he would stay on in Parliament if he was rolled as leader, he said he was not anticipating any challenge.

"But at the point I decide to stand down from a front bench responsibility in the Labour Party, I'd still be keen on carrying out my role as MP for Mt Roskill, until I feel I can't put all the energy you need to put into being a member of Parliament."

Goff is still considered likely to take Labour through to the election - and although Labour is the "underdog", he is optimistic that things could change.

He rejected a report in the Trans Tasman newsletter that he had asked his front bench meeting last week if he should resign following a series of polls showing Labour's support had dropped. He said the story was an "invention" and his intention was to lead Labour into the election.

Front bencher Clayton Cosgrove also said the report was "a load of bollocks". Other front bench MPs refused to comment, saying front bench meetings were confidential. "He has 100 per cent support in caucus and on the front bench," one added.

However, several in the caucus will be nervously waiting to see if the slump in support continues in the latest polls on both of the major television channels tomorrow night.

Despite wider-than-expected approval of its capital gains tax policy, Labour had slipped from 36 to 33 per cent in the last Herald DigiPoll survey - and was down to 27 per cent in the TV One-Colmar Brunton poll.