Labour's caucus has to hold its nerve and close ranks behind leader Phil Goff over the Darren Hughes affair, writes NZPA Political Editor Peter Wilson.
The worst thing it could do would be to panic and start thinking about a new leader, with eight months to go before the election.
If it does, and there is nothing to suggest it will except intense speculation, the party will have learnt nothing from National's debacle in 2002 when Bill English replaced Jenny Shipley and led the party to its worst defeat in history.
Goff should have stood Hughes down as soon as he knew there was a police inquiry into the incident. He should have told his caucus about it, he should have been on the front foot from the start.
But the fact that he wasn't isn't an issue which should throw his leadership into doubt.
He is still the best leader the party has to go into an election, and the way he handled the Hughes situation isn't something that will linger long enough in voters' minds to have an impact on the November 26 election.
Hughes has gone, he isn't going to come back in a hurry, if ever.
The scandal surrounding him can't do Labour any more damage, if it has actually done any damage at all in the longer term.
The headlines have been horrible, and there will still be intense interest in the outcome of the police inquiry into what happened early that morning of March 2 which ended with an 18-year-old student naked in the street outside deputy leader Annette King's house where Hughes boards.
But the inquiry won't hurt Labour because Hughes has resigned. Parties suffer such events and come through them -- the Richard Worth scandal was evidence of that, his resignation and the weeks of bad publicity didn't even cause a blip in National's support in the opinion polls.
Putting up a new Labour leader against a first-term National government led by one of the most popular prime ministers in history would be madness.
It would likely lead to a rout, because voters don't like parties which can't run their own affairs quietly and competently.
Leadership changes indicate they can't, and that was one of the reasons National fared so badly in 2002.
The other problem was that the caucus was divided -- as Labour's would be if Goff was ousted -- and its campaign was a shambles.
What Labour needs now is a display of rock solid unity, a public display of confidence in Goff.
At the next caucus meeting it should do that, and Goff may well demand it of them.
He has to shut down talk of a leadership spill, he has to do it publicly, and then all his MPs need to keep their mouths shut and their heads down.
That is the only way Labour can come out of this and put up a credible fight at the election.
Eight months is a long time in politics, the Hughes affair will have been mostly forgotten outside Parliament.
The Rugby World Cup is going to eclipse politics for two months before the election and few voters will still be thinking about a scandal that happened in March.
There is no doubt that there is discontent within the Labour caucus about the whole affair, and the way Goff handled it. That has to be shut down as well, MPs should get it off their chests at a caucus meeting, put it behind them and then focus on what really needs to happen between now and the election -- a solid policy platform for Labour to put up against National.
