Heather du Plessis-Allan: I suspect Gaurav Sharma is going to get a lesson in how ruthless politics can be

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Well Gaurav Sharma should try to enjoy what’s left of his parliamentary career, because it’s going to end.

They’re coming after him and I don’t think he’s going to survive this drama he’s created.

I have no idea what made him think he could take on the Labour party and more importantly the Prime Minister’s office with that bullying column in the Herald yesterday.

The guys in the PM’s office are some of the slickest in the country right now with dealing with crises and he is a backbench MP with no idea how to play this game so watch them paint him as the problem here.

It’s already started. They’ve just very gently dropped hints here and there.

So we’ve found out from them today that there’s already a hiring freeze for his office, which signals that he might be a problem boss doesn’t it?

And they’ve let us now that there was a meeting between him and the Labour party whip and parliamentary services yesterday and they met in ‘good faith’.

But, as we know, he put out a column yesterday so clearly the inference is he breached their faith.

So, presumably, we’re supposed to deduce that he’s the one acting irrationally, not them.

They, the Prime Minster says, are primarily concerned with his wellbeing.

He’s a valued member of the team.

“We want to make sure he is getting the support he needs.”

They are painting themselves as reasonable and rational.

Which, by inference, means he’s the opposite

Now that might be reality, it might not be, we don’t’ know.

Because Gaurav Sharma is now not talking.

He’s not taking any calls, he’s not providing any evidence to back up his claims, he’s just letting the Labour Party and the Prime Minister’s office tell their version of the story.

But he doesn’t know how to play politics like they do.

If there is a word to describe Gaurav Sharma, it’s naïve.

Naïve to think he could take on the MP’s office.

Naïve to think parliament was free of bullying.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if things happened like as he wrote in his column: he raised concerns and he was threatened about this long term career prospects.

Because that is how politics works, it’s ruthless.

And he is now about to get a lesson, I suspect, in how much more ruthless it can get.

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