The Disillusioned and Grumpy Key

Mr Armstrong beats a drum that others have been beating for some time. Mr Key is appearing disillusioned and out-of-sorts in his office. As I have argued for some time, the lustre of his image has been tarnished, and the he doesn't like the critical scrutiny to which he is now subjected. Taking on the media as he did round the infamous taping put him off-side with many journalists, and he will not recoup that loss. Moreover, his first term provided few if any answers to NZ's problems, and the muddling through, more-of-the same approach already adopted for the second term is impressing no-one. Colleagues like Mr Joyce are getting up people's noses all over the place. NZers do like to be hectored by know-it-all businessmen, a lesson that Mr Joyce clearly cannot learn.

Several years ago, I branded Mr Key as a dilettante, an amateur who would find the serious work of politics too much for him, both intellectually and in terms of the staggering workload expected of a PM. I think Mr Armstrong is on to something, too, about Mr Key's legacy. If he goes in this term, in a poorly-performing economy unaffected by his rhetoric and damaged by his policies, he will be labelled a failure. Mr Key's ego is something that has escaped much discussion, but I would not underestimate its importance (or its potential dangers for NZ).