One of Labour’s biggest problems right now is that Dr Gaurav Sharma seems like a nice man. I’ve watched his TV interview from last night.  I listened to two radio interviews he gave today. 

He’s calm, confident and warm.   

That makes this battle against him harder for Labour because this might ultimately all come down to who you trust the most. And that's because both sides are firing shots but neither side is really backing up the claims with evidence. 

Labour says he’s a bully and that he’s misrepresenting the messages of support and solidarity he’s had from other Labour MP's but they don’t provide any evidence to prove he’s a bully or that he’s lying.  All we know is three anonymous staffers are unhappy, one was in tears, and there was a hiring freeze on his office, but why?  We don’t know. 

He said he complained about a staff member drunk at work, that it’s the Labour whips who are bullies and  that Kieran McAnulty yelled at him. He also said the Prime Minister’s office is deliberately hiding official information, and that backbenchers were coached last Monday on how to hide information, but he doesn’t provide any information. 

So it's probably going to end up with us deciding who we think is telling the truth based on how credible we think either side is.

And he looks credible; certainly he looks more credible than other MPs gone rogue.  Remember Chris carter running down corridors with TV cameras following him?  Remember Jamie Lee Ross driving through the night from Auckland to Wellington? 

In fact Jamie Lee Ross is a good contrast here, he always looked a bit slippery didn’t he?  Not someone you could really trust. This guy is a different story, a quietly spoken GP who clearly doesn’t care if he loses his parliamentary career as long as he gets his version of events out.

Just that alone makes him a more formidable opponent than Labour appears to have realised. 

One of Labour’s biggest problems right now is that Dr Gaurav Sharma seems like a nice man. I’ve watched his TV interview from last night.  I listened to two radio interviews he gave today. 
He’s calm, confident and warm.   
That makes this battle against him harder for Labour because this might ultimately all come down to who you trust the most. And that's because both sides are firing shots but neither side is really backing up the claims with evidence. 
Labour says he’s a bully and that he’s misrepresenting the messages of support and solidarity he’s had from other Labour MP's but they don’t provide any evidence to prove he’s a bully or that he’s lying.  All we know is three anonymous staffers are unhappy, one was in tears, and there was a hiring freeze on his office, but why?  We don’t know. 
He said he complained about a staff member drunk at work, that it’s the Labour whips who are bullies and  that Kieran McAnulty yelled at him. He also said the Prime Minister’s office is deliberately hiding official information, and that backbenchers were coached last Monday on how to hide information, but he doesn’t provide any information. 
So it's probably going to end up with us deciding who we think is telling the truth based on how credible we think either side is.
And he looks credible; certainly he looks more credible than other MPs gone rogue.  Remember Chris carter running down corridors with TV cameras following him?  Remember Jamie Lee Ross driving through the night from Auckland to Wellington? 
In fact Jamie Lee Ross is a good contrast here, he always looked a bit slippery didn’t he?  Not someone you could really trust. This guy is a different story, a quietly spoken GP who clearly doesn’t care if he loses his parliamentary career as long as he gets his version of events out.
Just that alone makes him a more formidable opponent than Labour appears to have realised.

With a straight down the middle approach, Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB delivers the very latest news and views to New Zealanders as they wrap up their day.