Helen Clark and the media

This is one of many more stories likely to appear in the months to come. The question it asks is can Helen Clark win a fourth term for Labour?

There has surprisingly been no discussion of a succession to Helen Clark. This article sets up what are likely to be the terms of the narrative surrounding her leadership.

From The Press via stuff.co.nz:

"Combining David Lange's intelligence and frankness with ferocious discipline, she has dominated New Zealand's political stage as few before her.

On December 10, Clark marks her eighth year as Prime Minister.

Assuming the Government goes full-term (beyond mid-October next year), she could next year move into fifth place in the ranks of our longest-serving premiers – led by Richard Seddon, followed by William Massey, Keith Holyoake and Peter Fraser.

By then she will have led the Labour Party for nearly 15 years. She has been the most popular prime minister of modern times.

So an assessment of Clark's legacy may seem premature.

Aged just 57, she has her eyes on a fourth term next year – a feat if achieved that would place her government alongside Peter Fraser's as the only other Labour administration to have done so.

Early in her premiership, British Labour MP Austin Mitchell quipped that governing New Zealand didn't seem enough of a test for Clark's abilities, and suggested she take a subcontract role running Scotland or Norway.

Yet three terms on, Clark is facing a challenge even for her formidable skills.

Her government appears old and tired. Mired in minor scandal for much of the time since the last election, Clark has been forced to spend her time fighting fires."


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See also Colin Espiner's article on the topic