There are a number of Labour insiders leaking information via The Standard. ‘Eddie’ has had another go this morning in A new broom?

Word is that Shearer’s team has taken a cue from the media response from Key’s reshuffle and is looking to bolster his new tough image by dropping some of the old hands in his own reshuffle (which will, of course, come after the caucus vote on his leadership).

Word is that Eddie’s last attempt to influence outcomes by blogging ‘word is’ suggestions was woefully off the mark, but this time round one of his predictions has already been proven accurate:

…there’s no way Shearer will cross the people that are keeping him in place and the recent hard yards he’s done for Trev’s aspirations for the Speaker’s chair shows just who holds sway in Shearer’s caucus.

And in comments:

quartz 5
31 January 2013 at 9:44 am

the recent hard yards he’s done for Trev’s aspirations for the Speaker’s chair

Is Labour putting Trevor Mallard up for speaker? That’s a joke, right?

Lightly 5.1

31 January 2013 at 10:08 am
nope.

For some reason, they think it’s clever to keep it secret to the last minute.

Labour have just announced they are nominating Mallard for speaker.

 KhandallaViper 5.2
31 January 2013 at 1:11 pm
It’s been on the radar for a while.

I think Trevor would be a transformational Speaker.
While he has failed miserably as a Labour Strategist and as a Sports Minister he does have a certain energy and ability to communicate.

He could use those talents to make Parliament more relevant to the many who think is is not: the many who do not vote.

That last comment is curious – many Labour promoters think that attracting the non-voters are the key to success. But IS KV suggesting Labour and Mallard would use the position of speaker for their own advantage?

@CTrevettNZH

Shearer: “my only concern about Trevor is that he will be too fair.”

Trevor has been so deeply mired in Labour’s black ops it would be an amazing transformation for him to be fair to all sides as Speaker. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be possible, just that it would involve a huge dislocation from what he has been doing for many years.

Anyway, this is all pointless conjecture, Labour don’t have the numbers to get Mallard into the Speaker’s chair.

UPDATE: David Carter has been elected Speaker as expected.

As Peter Dunne tweeted:

@PeterDunneMP

Labour obviously is not taking the election of the Speaker seriously

It’s hard to take Labour seriously on this.

And it’s hard to take ‘Eddie’ seriously on the things that matter after all his failures, but he was right about the word on Mallard.

But it signals a possible worry – if Labour do lead the next government and try and put Mallard into the Peaker’s chair. Trev has a better than most knowledge of standing orders and how abuses of the house are achieved.

However Mallard has been so entrenched in Labours black ops for so long it would take a major transformation – and a total separation with his past strategies – for Mallard to be anothing like balanced and fair.