Chris Carter

By Maggie Tait of NZPA

Wellington, July 29 NZPA - Labour MP Chris Carter's career as an MP imploded spectacularly today but he has no plans to leave Parliament in a hurry, despite his plotting to oust leader Phil Goff being quickly exposed.

An urgent caucus meeting was held this afternoon and a unanimous decision was made to eject Mr Carter over an unsigned letter he wrote aimed at undermining Mr Goff's leadership.

Whether he remains in the party will be decided by the Labour Party council on August 7, but he said tonight he would not quit his Te Atatu seat -- so a by-election is averted.

Speaking on TV3's Campbell Live, Mr Carter said he wasn't going anywhere.

"The people who voted me to serve them I will be serving them until the election, I will be there as a Labour MP, if my Labour title has been officially removed from me it will still stay with me," he said.

Asked why he behaved secretly rather than openly raising concerns with colleagues,he said: "It doesn't work that way at Parliament... in a way I was hoping to get caught. I am not stupid, I took the letters down (to the mailroom) myself. I am not unhappy it's happened."

His single-page letter, delivered by a parliamentary messenger to selected Press Gallery political editors, said union-based MPs would challenge Mr Goff over his "relaxed" stance on government plans to allow workers to cash in their fourth week of holiday which is against Labour policy.

Mr Goff immediately suspected Mr Carter because he recently demoted him for his excessive spending on travel, hotels and meals while a minister and in opposition.

"I wasn't prepared to make any allegation until there was evidence, it was clearly evident from the handwriting on the envelope that it was Mr Carter's handwriting, that he was also seen down at the messengers' room this morning at about that time," Mr Goff said.

He said he then confronted Mr Carter who initially denied responsibility for the letter but under further pressure confessed.

"It was stupid, it was disloyal. His actions... were calculated to damage the party and the leadership. That is unacceptable to me and my caucus," Mr Goff said.

"Chris Carter has no future in the Labour Party that I lead."

Mr Carter, speaking to reporters at Auckland airport tonight, said his letter was an attack on Mr Goff's leadership.

"I no longer believe it's possible for him to win the election," he said.

"I think I owe it to the people I represent and the people who voted for our party that we have a leader who can win the election.

"Look, Phil Goff is a very nice guy but he's just not going to win and his latest flip-flop over the tradeable fourth week... was the last straw for me. Yes I was attempting to get a momentum going where our caucus would think about a leadership change and I am hoping that my actions will cause some of my caucus colleagues to reflect on something which I think almost all of them would come to the conclusion: that nice as Phil is he's just not going to win."

Mr Goff said he had tried to be fair to Mr Carter over his credit card spending and initial failure to front or apologise.

"Today there are no more chances... I can't pretend to understand why Chris Carter acted in the way that he did."

Questions have previously been raised about Mr Goff's future as leader given the party and his own poor personal polling.

In the letter Mr Carter wrote that "David Cunliffe has a big smile on his face and many in the caucus now expect a move against Goff and King before the election".

Mr Cunliffe has rejected that and ruled out a leadership attempt before next year's election and said Mr Goff had his "100 percent" backing.

Mr Goff said there was no tension over his leadership.

"This is an action of an individual on his own. He got no support and no sympathy from the Labour caucus."

Asked about Mr Carter's state of mind he said: "I'm not a psychiatrist, I can't comment on that."

In a peculiar twist the letter was sent in an old airmail envelope with Office of Minister of Finance, NEW ZEALAND printed on it.

Finance Minister Bill English was asked about that and said it wasn't his stationery.

"Labour are starting to show the pressures of opposition. They'll start attacking their leader and being internally split. I think it will get pretty ugly."