Shearer calls caucus meeting to confirm leadership

UPDATED:

Labour leader David Shearer is to hold a caucus meeting tomorrow afternoon to confirm his party leadership.

While deflated challenger David Cunliffe has already said he will support Mr Shearer tomorrow, he has yet to say if his support will extend to February’s leadership review when new voting rules come into play.

Under those rules, just 40% of the caucus, or 14 of the 34 MPs would need to support a potential new leader to spark a leadership challenge.

If the 40% threshold is reached, then a wider vote will take place in which Labour MPs' votes count for 40% of the total; party members' 40% to the parliamentary party, and affiliates such as unions 20%.

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10am:

Labour leader David Shearer is hinting he'll push for a showdown with challenger David Cunliffe within days.

A leadership review is scheduled for February.

Mr Shearer is looking to regain the initiative following a rule change passed at the party's conference over the weekend, which was seen as a tactical victory for Mr Cunliffe. The change means a challenger now needs the support of just 40% of caucus to force a leadership  vote.

"What we want to do is put all of this behind us – and that’s what we’ll do in the coming days," Mr Shearer said on TVNZ's Breakfast this morning.

But Mr Shearer would not say when a vote could occur other than to offer the alpha male boast that "It will be me who decides when it happens and how it happens."

Cunliffe tries to derail a vote this week
For his part, Mr Cunliffe said he would support Mr Shearer in any vote held over the next few weeks - presumably as a stalling tactic while he builds support. 

The weekend rule change means the challenger needs the backing of 14 colleagues (or 13 plus himself) to force a vote.

Political commentator David Farrar sees 10 Labour MPs already inside Camp Cunliffe, with five waverers:

Camp Cunliffe
1. David Cunliffe
2. Nanaia Mahuta
3. Charles Chauvel
4. Moana Mackey
5. Lianne Dalziel
6. Louisa Wall
7. Rino Tirikatene
8. Sua William Sio
9. Sue Moroney
10. Rajen Prasad.

Unknowns up for grabs:
1. Parekura Horomia
2. Shane Jones
3. Megan Woods
4. Ross Robertson
5. Andrew Little

If the 40% threshold is reached, then a wider vote will take place in which Labour MPs' votes count for 40% of the total; party members' 40% to the parliamentary party, and affiliates such as unions 20%.

Cunliffe not endorsing Shearer

Nov 17: Labour Party MP David Cunliffe won’t confirm whether he will support David Shearer when the Labour Party caucus votes on its leadership in February next year.

A rule change pushed through by "Camp Cunliffe" at the Labour Party Conference today means a challenger will need just 40% of caucus support to call a leadership vote at the scheduled Februrary review.

In practical terms, that means Mr Cunliffe needs the support of just four of five wavering MPs to force a vote.

Speaking this weekend on TV3’s “The Nation," (scroll down for video), Mr Cunliffe said: “I haven’t given it any thought”.

"I’m not prepared to discuss individual remits, whatever they are. 

“I'm a very strong supporter of the organisational review.

“I haven't formed a view on any particular matters that are caucus matters and in any particular case, it wouldn't be appropriate to talk about them now.”

Mr Shearer said he was “absolutely” confident he would win the vote.

Between now and February, “I will be doing exactly what I'm doing now – being the leader of the Labour Party".

“The thing I have to do is get out and talk about the real issues that are facing New Zealand.

“That's jobs, that's employment, that's education.

“That' my job.

“That's the only thing I’m focused on.”

Mr Cunliffe said he would be enjoying “a very nice restful summer”.

Around 600 delegates have turned up to Labour's annual conference at the Ellerslie Events Centre in Auckland - reporteldy the biggest turnout since the 1980s.

Video courtesy Front Page.