It's not looking good for Colin Craig's hopes of a deal John Key is pouring more cold water on doing a deal with anti-gay Conservative Party leader Colin Craig in East Coast Bays. Over the weekend Winston Peters suggested that if National offers an ‘over the teapot’ deal to Craig he will stand in the electorate. The seat is held by longtime National MP Murray McCully. "Mr Craig has indicated that if that accommodation was to be reached with him, that would require us not having Murray McCully on the ballot paper and I think that's a challenging thing to do,” Key told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking this morning. He says that’s not typically how the party operates. "Even if we did do that we took that rather extreme step, anyone would be free to stand - it's not just Winston Peters but anybody. "And it wouldn't necessarily mean Colin Craig would win the seat, the Labour candidate might. "They're all factors you have to consider." A final decision will be announced next week. In Pundit’s ‘poll of polls’ the Conservative has an average level of support of 1.5 per cent. Without a deal for a seat it would need five per cent of the party vote to get into Parliament.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 21st July 2014 - 10:04am