Politicians should be aware that they live in glasshouses and hence should behave well at all times of day and night and in public view and in obscurity was proved yet again on March 23, as Labour MP Darren Hughes sent us a brief note ‘exposing himself’ as the bloke in trouble.
A day later, Party Leader Phil Goff made the troubled MP a backbencher, removed him from the roles of Education Spokesman and Chief Whip.
As it happens in politics, developments take place with amazing speed and before the end of the week, Mr Hughes announced his resignation from Parliament, saying, “I am not prepared to see my Party distracted in the lead-up to a critical election.”
At press time, there was immense speculation as to who will succeed him in Parliament, with just 63 sittings before the General Election on November 26.
I have known Mr Hughes as a bright young man (he was just 24 years old in 2002 when he entered Parliament as an elected candidate from Otaki) with a great promise.
He writes well, speaks well and how I wish he had behaved well (of his own admission) on the night of March 2.
What happened on that night and why a ‘Youth MP’ (name unknown) should have complained to the Police about Mr Hughes would be revealed after the ongoing investigation is completed.
It is not for us to comment on an incident or a case of which information is drip-fed. It would be presumptuous to comment since the case is now a subject of police investigation; it is not within our professional propriety to be judgmental about the man’s behaviour. For, no human being is infallible.
That is where the difference rests; politicians are expected to not only behave like angels but also be angels themselves. They are not allowed to digress from public perception of their moral rectitude; In short, they cannot behave like ordinary human beings because they are not.
Mr Hughes, who has spent nine years in Parliament, six of which were on Treasury benches and some as a Minister, should have known better how to behave, rather how not to misbehave.
