By Jono Hutchison
Chris Carter says he'll be staying on in his electorate despite being suspended from the Labour caucus.
And according to some political commentators, that decision has got disaster written all over it for Labour.
The Te Atatu MP got the boot today after his boss Phil Goff discovered Mr Carter was responsible for an anonymous letter circulated to journalists which predicted a leadership challenge.
Read the letter in full here.
Mr Carter arrived in Auckland this afternoon with his own leader in his sights.
"Look, Phil Goff is a very nice guy, but he's just not going to win," Mr Carter told reporters.
A short time later Mr Goff announced Mr Carter was kicked out of caucus.
"Chris Carter has no future in a Labour Party I lead," Mr Goff said at a news conference.
Watch the full news conference here.
On Campbell Live tonight, Mr Carter defended his actions.
"The reason why I did it was I wanted to create a little snowball, which I hope will run down a hillside and become an avalanche and change the leadership," he told John Campbell. "Somebody had to do it."
Watch the full interview, including reaction from Mr Goff, here.
Mr Carter dismissed the suggestion that he should have been more up-front about questioning Mr Goff.
"That's not how it happens in politics. But actually, you know, if I'd been truly wanting to be anonymous, I'd never have written it myself.
"I'm glad it's come out; I sorta half-wanted it to, to be quite honest."
"This is getting into the realms of confessional politics," says political commentater Chris Trotter, "and I think in the end statements like that don't need a political analyst, full stop."
Mr Trotter says this is not how things normally happen in politics.
"I think Mr Carter really has lost his political senses. What happened today is pretty much without precedent in terms of its ham-fistedness, in terms of its look."
Mr Goff told Campbell Live that Mr Carter wasn't up-front when first confronted.
"He pretended that he hadn't even seen the letter. That was dishonest. When confronted he was forced to admit that he was author of it."
Mr Goff also denied the suggestion that his colleagues want a new leader.
"No, that's certainly not the case, and the fact that he acted alone and that his removal from the Labour caucus was unanimous I think is a clear indication of how the caucus felt of his actions."
Mr Carter says he won't be leaving his electorate of Te Atatu in Auckland.
"I'll be there as a Labour MP. If my Labour title has been officially removed from me, it will still stay with me," says Mr Carter, adding "I'll be supporting Labour 100 percent."
"This is not what they want to hear," says Mr Trotter.
"Short of shooting the man, what on earth can you do? It's got disaster printed all over it for Labour."
It's likely Labour will now go through the process of officially ousting Mr Carter from the party, but if he chooses to stay in his electorate they won't have a chance to get him out of Parliament until the election next year.
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