Key should take responsibility for BMW deal

John Key has told too many conflicting stories about the BMW deal, and he should stop being dishonest and take responsibility, says Labour Leader Phil Goff.

“I’ve given up counting the number of different stories John Key has told about this issue,” Phil Goff said.

“I find it very difficult to believe any prime minister could be so much in the dark about what’s happening in his own administration, even if he wasn’t paying attention, so that just leaves the option of making up stories to try to put himself in a better light.

“The chronological saga according to John Key goes something like this:

o Firstly, he didn ’t know anything about it;
o Then his limo driver told him about ‘a week ago’;
o Then his limo driver told him about it ‘some weeks back’;

“John Key has been equally devious about the nature of the contract,” Phil Goff said.

o Firstly, John Key said they couldn’t get out of it without paying a high penalty.
o Then he said the contract could have been cancelled without penalty.
o And now he is saying the contract is a good deal for taxpayers.

“He is hardly consistent either when it comes to how the deal was authorised,” Phil Goff said.

o First off all, he said the decision was made by the Internal affairs Department, which did not think it had to check with Ministers;
o Then he agreed Ministers had known about the contract last year;
o And now he says his Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy assumed last year that he would know all about and didn’t bother telling him.

“Nathan Guy was right in making that assumption because John Key is in charge of Ministerial Services as well as being Prime Minister, and it beggars belief that he would not be across such a decision.”

Phil Goff said the whole BMW saga placed John Key in a most unflattering light. “He is a politician that constantly seeks to be in the glow of positive public opinion. Everyone else has been to blame over the BMW purchase except him, but now that it seems that it is a good deal, he’s prepared to take some credit for that.

“It’s also quite clear John Key hopes to put the BMW issue to rest before the Welfare Working Group report comes out tomorrow.

“I also find it personally repugnant that John Key today tried to claim that the death of Kiwi soldier Private Kirifi Mila somehow distracted his attention. The BMW saga was in the news well before the soldier’s tragic death.”

ends

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