In the mid-1990s, David Farrar (left) was awarded the title “Master of the Net” by one of his online political opponents, Janice Moira Graham, who went on to become an (unsuccessful) Alliance Party election candidate. The two frequently duelled in the nz.politics group on Usenet, a pre-Web network of Internet discussion groups that has been fading into obscurity in recent years thanks to the rise of blogging.
Janice was exasperated that David knew so much about the Net that he was even able to set up new newsgroups. He was extraordinarily Net-literate at a time most people had not heard of the Internet, let alone went online, where David lived then just as he does now with Kiwiblog.
A former Young National’s chief, David had Net skills such that he won a job in the National Party offices at Parliament when Jim Bolger was prime minister, remaining through to Bill English’s time as opposition leader when he left to set up his Curia Market Research polling firm.
While working at Parliament, David was instrumental in setting up some of the original government websites and even writing the online biographies of past prime ministers. Online, David was as all over everything then as he is today.
It is thus no wonder that David is such an influential blogger. “Lord of the Blog” is how Cactus Kate describes him, echoing Janice’s Master of the Net all those years ago. What isn’t so widely understood is his enormous backroom political influence, in the National Party (he is its paid pollster) and elsewhere, especially in the news media.
Journalists not only read his blog avidly, they contact him seemingly daily to seek his comments on almost every subject known to humanity, allowing him to get a quiet blue tinge into print, radio and television stories usually without him being identified as the unparalleled National Party activist he is.
The fact he’s a really nice guy who gets on well with most of his political opponents helps him immensely.
Despite David’s extraordinary pervasiveness and influence, it has been recently nonetheless breathtaking to watch day by day and week by week as he single-handedly set up the Mt Albert electorate in Auckland to fall to National in the coming byelection required by the resignation from Parliament of Helen Clark to take up her very senior new job at the United Nations.
Mt Albert used to be a working class Auckland seat that always voted Labour, but in the 27 years since Helen Clark took it over in 1981, it has been steadily gentrifying and there is little working class about it today. The fact it remained so loyal to Labour during these gentrifying years is in no small measure thanks to her being one of the same arts-loving, middle class educated people as those who have moved into it during her tenure.
David quickly deduced that Mt Albert could be won by National should Labour be scared into running an unknown candidate in the byelection and the Greens be prompted into running a high-profile one to split the vote, allowing a quality National candidate to come through the middle.
In an audacious piece of political scheming worthy of Machiavelli, David floated the notion that the Mt Albert byelection would result in the return to Parliament of Judith Tizard, the Labour MP for Auckland Central who lost the seat at the general election and who was for years one of the favourite targets for the misogyny of the Blogosphere’s wingnuts (of whom David is not one, but whose blog’s comments section bursts to breaking point with their vitriol).
This notion was predicated on Labour selecting its most obvious and strongest candidate for the seat, former Oxfam boss Phil Twyford, a long-time resident of the electorate and a Labour list MP since the election.
Under the rules of MMP, if a list MP wins an electorate in a byelection, a list vacancy is created which is filled by the next unsuccessful candidate on the party list of the former list MP.
David shouted from his blog that a vote for Phil Twyford in Mt Albert would be a vote for Judith Tizard’s return to Parliament, with the remorseless suggestion that Judith Tizard was useless and voters would rebel, voting National rather than Labour to stop her returning to the House by its back door.
Judith was not the next unsuccessful candidate on Labour’s list. Damien O’Connor was, but David also reasoned that this likeable former minister (who also lost his seat in November) was assured of returning because Michael Cullen was about to resign his list seat due to getting some plum government appointments, which David also wrote about in the context of a Tizard return.
It’s probably not too long a bow to draw to speculate that National offered Dr Cullen the SOE jobs he’s just been given to encourage him out of Parliament to ensure Damien’s return and thus the certainty that Judith would be the next unsuccessful list member back.
The news media quickly picked up David’s line that “Phil Twyford means Judith Tizard” and this panicked Labour, which undertook polling and focus groups in the electorate to see whether voters would be less likely to support Labour if a Twyford victory brought Judith back to Parliament.
The polling presumably found the latter to be the case, so Phil announced he was not going to stand.
“Labour MP Phil Twyford will not seek nomination for the Mt Albert by-election, resolving the party’s Tizard dilemma,” said the Herald this week in a story that had David crowing with unsuppressed delight.
The effect of this is that someone Mt Albert voters have never heard of will be the Labour candidate, probably Baghdad-based UN aid worker David Shearer, who has been out of New Zealand most of the past 20 years, making it harder for Labour to retain the seat at a time National is still very high in the opinion polls.
Meanwhile, the clever Mr Farrar was also busy on Kiwiblog promoting the ideal of the Greens running their far-left co-leader Russel Norman to raise their profile, and Russel duly accepted the challenge, which David positively gloated about yesterday.
Labour leader Phil Goff was reportedly deeply unhappy at this choice of a Greens candidate because he knows full well it could seriously split the left vote in Mt Albert, absent a strong candidate like Phil Twyford, very likely allowing National to win the seat with its high-quality list MP Melissa Lee.
Chuffed at his successes, David is now off from Wellington to Mt Albert in the Blogmobile in which he and his mate Cameron Slater (the National Party blogger Whale Oil) campaigned for National around New Zealand during the general election campaign. Cameron will again be joining him for the duration.
David might not be National’s official campaign manager, but he is its de facto one, its most cunning one, a true maestro of the dark arts of politics. Mt Albert could be his greatest moment to date, and the news media and the Labour Party, even the Greens, have fallen for his machinations hook, line and sinker.
23 Comments
April 25, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I really don’t think Norman’s decision to run has anything to do with DPF; it serves his and his parties strategic interests to stand in the by-election and they’ve been hinting about standing a ’strong’ candidate in Mt Albert for months now.
I agree with most of your other statements though – DPF is an unique asset for his party and Labour don’t have anyone remotely comparable. Obviously The Standard is their presence on the blogosphere but it’s a lot less popular and they have a much more adversarial attitude towards the media, thus much less influence than DPF does.
April 25, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I don’t think he has that much power, but a good understanding of parties and politics in general.
I think he reached the logical conculsions that other people would make only faster.
April 25, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I agree Poneke.
I personally credit David for the All Blacks 23-3 win over Wales at Cardiff Arms on November 1st 1980.
April 26, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Why o why is Mr Farrar grasping at the tasteless tie of that anonymous Suit? From your write-up shouldn’t he be stroking a fluffy white cat while feeding bits of a hapless Green to his piranhas?
Congratulations on your return – escape from the torture dungeons run by Big Diesel?
April 26, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Is the more apt comparison not to Karl Rove?
April 26, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Is the more apt comparison not to Karl Rove?
If DPF can manage to turn the Nats into a hated, despised, comical minority then a comparison to Rove seems apt, right not not really.
April 26, 2009 at 4:40 pm
What a load of baloney.
The whole story falls flat on its face when you realise the Labour Party polling simply confirmed the obvious – ‘a vote for Twyford will get you Tizard.’ David didn’t just make that up. The problem for Labour is that all their people are dumbarses while Farrar is a very bright and successful man. He simply spotted the obvious problem long before they did.
April 26, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Well, before Rove did that, he first got them into power….and I suspect that George W Bush and some of his closest mates like Dick Cheney were more to blame for the current view of the right in the US.
And, yet further, didn’t the Republicans still get some 45% of the popular vote?
My personal view, when the right become big govt conservatives, their vote goes down. When they are small govt liberals, their vote goes up. Just my 5c worth.
April 27, 2009 at 12:15 am
“Obviously The Standard is their presence on the blogosphere”
Danyl, this is untrue, as has been repeatedly said to you and others. There are Labour Party activists on there, but there are also others who are supporters of other parties or no party at all.
April 27, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Russel Norman “far left”? Wow.
April 27, 2009 at 4:15 pm
George – you’re fooling noone.
Greenish – how would you describe Russel? Right wing?
Let me guess, you think:
- Russel is centre left,
- Labour is slightly to the right, maybe in the centre,
- National is far right, and
- ACT is out with Genghis Khan?
The Greens are to the left of Labour. On a NZ political spectrum, that makes them far left.
April 27, 2009 at 4:38 pm
An excellent appraisal of DPF’s abilities and activities, Poneke. Most informative, and, as always, you know your stuff.
I would say that maybe David has his equivalent on the left in the person of Matt McCarten, who is also very likeable although just as machiavellian if not more so than David.
April 27, 2009 at 4:40 pm
“The Greens are to the left of Labour. On a NZ political spectrum, that makes them far left.”
Given that Labour is usually described as centre-left, I’d say it makes the Greens left, and I don’t think Russel is towards the extreme end of the Green spectrum either. I’d reserve “Far Left” for those handing out The Spark in Cuba Mall.
April 27, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Greenish – so enlighten me. National are usually described as centre right (sometimes as mini me or Labour-lite, but we’ll leave that alone). So that means ACT must be right, not far right?
I’m happy with Greens at left if you’re happy with ACT at right. That means we’re measuring the spectrum right out into the loony elements who don’t get into parliament – so far left and far right would be some of the small parties or even those who don’t have parties. Funnily enough both the far left and the far right are about as disorganised and into anarchy as the other
. Is it really a spectrum, or can you go so far left that you become right?
April 27, 2009 at 10:58 pm
an eye for an eye. a tooth for a tooth. very machiavellian.
April 28, 2009 at 9:56 am
The problem isn’t DPF’s evil “machinations”, the problem is that Judith Tizard is useless. Labour confirmed that with polling and did the obvious: make sure it wasn’t an issue in this byelection.
Now take off your tinfoil hat and get a real job! :-p
April 29, 2009 at 7:27 am
Oh Janice Graham, I remember her.
She was quite mad, I wonder if she is in RAM – she’d fit in with that group of conspiracy theorist driven wingnuts.
April 30, 2009 at 2:27 pm
PaulL… it does not follow that if the Greens are left that ACT must be right (rather than far right).
May 1, 2009 at 11:06 pm
No, it doesn’t necessarily follow from that statement.
But I think it does follow from the logic chain. If we define our political spectrum as “the usable political spectrum” or some such, then the most leftwing party in parliament is far left, the most rightwing party is far right. Everyone else fits in between. Therefore Green is far left, ACT is far right.
If we define our spectrum based on all the parties that exist (not just those that are elected), then there are parties and groups to the right of ACT, just as there are parties and groups to the left of the Greens.
In other words, if you try to argue that the Greens are left and that ACT are far right, then you’re really just showing your political bias, not making an argument.
May 6, 2009 at 3:04 am
Janice Graham B.A. has died on 5 May 2009.
May 9, 2009 at 10:17 am
GRAHAM Janice Moira. Born 13 May 1952. Tragically taken from us 5 May 2009 at her home by the sea. An academic, community leader, generous brave and kind in adversity. Much loved mother of Johnathon, Guy and Martin. Janice will be resting at home til the service on Wednesday. Service 13 May 2009, Tilton, Opie & Pattinson New Lynn at 11am.
May 11, 2009 at 9:43 am
David Farrar has acknowledged his political position in the disclosure statement on Kiwiblog. He has always managed the blog to apparently take reasonable positions himself, but in practice making sufficiently provocative statements that it incites the extremist fringe – which Farrar clearly hopes will shift the apparent ‘centre’ of current opinion and discussion further to the right – and towards libertarianism. It appears he allows himself one or two apologies for going over the top a month, so that he can superficially appear reasonable. Sadly for him the political compass site itself http://politicalcompass.org/nz2008 (and the validity of which he does not dispute) shows a much more central position for Labour and for the norm of political discussion in New Zealand. He does appear to have lost his ‘independent political commentator’ tag, but sadly some in the media (Jim Mora on National Radio for example) do not always see the need to balance his well packaged extremist views with others. Whale Oil is possibly a deliberately designed more extreme site just to make Kiwiblog appear more central.
The left does not have an equivalent bloggist, but may be better off without it. The Standard appears to be more Green supporting – but acknowledging that they need Labour to reach their objectives. They are also much fairer in discouraging lies and abuse.
October 14, 2009 at 8:04 pm
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