By Rebecca Wright
The battle for the leadership of the Labour party has the potential to turn into a real wrestling match.
Already five contenders have put their names forward for the jobs of leader or deputy, and Phil Goff isn't ruling out the possibility of more entering the fray.
He and his deputy, Annette King, will resign before Christmas, but they will stay on as MPs.
Mr Goff emerged from a caucus meeting this afternoon to tell assembled media his leadership of the Labour Party will come to an end on Tuesday, December 13.
• Mr Goff’s full announcement
• Duncan Garner’s story
on the leadership battle
• Extended interviews with Labour 's contenders
Mr Goff says contenders for the leadership include David Parker, David Cunliffe, David Shearer, Grant Robertson and Nanaia Mahuta, but he “can't rule out” other candidates.
That battle will be waged over the next two weeks, before it goes to a caucus vote.
Mr Goff says he will be “considering the credentials that each of those candidates have” and will give his full support to the eventual new leader.
Each of the potential leaders is said to have had the chance to address caucus, in a meeting that stretched on for five hours.
The party’s election showing of 27 percent was also dissected, and Mr Goff says the election “wasn’t just lost in the past month”.
“It was lost over three years - I think that's correct, and we discussed all of the factors that may have contributed to that.”
The Labour MPs 3 News spoke to today agreed the party has to change – Parekura Horomia says the party “[needs] to recognise that we got a thrashing”, and Steve Chadwick says Labour has to “be brave [and] do some things differently”.
Clare Curran says politics is “a rocky road… and the most important thing about it is that every three years the people get to speak and the politicians get to listen”.
3 News