It has been a leadership not so much in decline, as never taking off, writes Audrey Young. Shearer was a risk his supporters thought worth taking in 2011.

David Shearer strums his final chord, swings the guitar over his shoulder and plods off into the political sunset, the whiff of seafood in the air, writes Toby Manhire.

Labour Party members have reacted with surprise at David Shearer's decision to step down, but fellow MPs described him as a "nice guy" whose time was up.

David Shearer took a cautious approach early in his leadership of Labour and during his initial honeymoon period the party recovered in the polls from its worst election result in generations.

A group of Labour MPs were planning a motion of no confidence against party leader David Shearer at the caucus meeting on Tuesday - a step pre-empted by his resignation.

Editorial: David Shearer's shortcomings as a politician were harshly exposed during his short time as the leader of the Labour Party. He knew when the game was up.

We bring you the latest updates on David Shearer's decision to stand down and the race to find a new Labour leader.

Support for Labour and Greens has overtaken National as Parliament debates controversial spying law changes, the latest Morgan Poll shows.

If Labour leader David Shearer wants a tip from a winner, former Prime Minister Helen Clark says her advice is always to "be yourself".

Real estate agency bosses don't back the Labour Party's foreign house buyer exclusion policy, saying sheer lack of supply is the nub of the issue.

Plans by the Labour Party to exclude foreign buyers from the housing market have sparked more calls for restrictions and warnings about the risk of damaging the country's relationships with its major trading partners.

Those of us following politics are witnessing the destruction of a party leader, says Rodney Hide.

Labour leader David Shearer says the proposed GCSB bill is "bad law" and would be repealed if the party was successful at next year's election.

Shearer's new chief of staff, Fran Mold, has three months at most to resuscitate his flagging leadership of Labour, writes John Armstrong.

Labour Party leader David Shearer says a shake-up of staff in his parliamentary office had been planned for some time.

Labour leader David Shearer has appointed his former press secretary Fran Mold as his chief of staff in an attempt to tighten political management of his office.

There are further changes in Labour leader David Shearer's office after his chief of staff Alastair Cameron resigned to be replaced by his former chief press secretary Francesca Mold.

At the start of the week, I would have put Shearer's chances of surviving at 80/20. Now they would be closer to 50/50.

Duncan Garner looked for a moment like an America's Cup yacht, racing no one but himself, he was undaunted, and grinded on, writes Toby Manhire.

John Key appears to have made another concession over the bill expanding GCSB powers - this time requiring it to have regard to the Bill of Rights Act.

Labour MPs at the centre of rumours about a leadership move within are adamant that there are no moves under way to oust David Shearer.

A clerical assistant suspected of leaking two confidential cabinet papers has lost his Court of Appeal bid to challenge the findings of the Paul Rebstock inquiry into the leaks.

David Shearer has strenuously denied there are moves afoot within his own caucus to have him dumped as Labour's leader - and senior colleagues are backing him up.

The terse, four-paragraph press statement issued by Labour Party president Moira Coatsworth did not say very much. But in not saying very much, it said it all.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said his concerns about the bill had widened beyond the four he specified in his first reading.

Labour leader David Shearer has quashed his party's proposal for women-only candidate selections.