Stuff broke the story yesterday of Uffindell beating a younger student at King’s College. Last night the MP for Tauranga said he hadn’t ruled out standing down but this morning said he wants to stay on, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in The Bulletin.
Newly elected MP for Tauranga Sam Uffindell asked to leave King’s College in 1999 after beating young boy
As detailed by Stuff’s Kirsty Johnston, Uffindell was asked to leave King’s College as a fifth former (year 11) after viciously beating a younger student late at night. The incident took place in 1999 and the victim says he thought the boys had been using wooden bed legs unscrewed from their dorm to beat him with. Stuff spoke to three witnesses who were present at the time and called Uffindell who said he couldn’t recall using bed legs but couldn’t rule it out either. Uffindell spoke to Lisa Owen on RNZ’s Checkpoint last night where he said he only used his fists to hit the victim. Stuff has approached King’s College to confirm if bed legs were used and is awaiting a response.
Uffindell wants to stay on as an MP
Uffindell apologised to the victim, who spoke to Johnston anonymously, 22 years after the attack and nine months before he publicly announced his political aspirations. The victim said he probably wouldn’t have agreed to speak to Stuff about the incident if Uffindell had properly handled the apology. Toby Manhire highlights the tenor of Uffindell’s maiden speech a week ago in which he lamented “a growing culture of lawlessness, lack of accountability, a sense of impunity, and significant underlying generational social problems”. Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan last night, Uffindell confirmed the incident and said it was “one of the dumbest, stupidest things I have ever done”. He didn’t rule out standing down as an MP when speaking to du Plessis-Allan, but told Rachel Smalley on Today FM this morning that he wants to stay on. He will discuss his future with the party today.
Party aware of incident ahead of selection
The party was aware of the incident before selecting Uffindell to run for the seat and it was not disclosed to voters ahead of the by-election. In his Checkpoint interview, Uffindell said he disclosed the incident “fully” to the party in writing in April as they requested that kind of information and he “thought it would come up at some stage” if he was successful. Posting on his Patreon, National party pollster David Farrar (paywalled) said if he were on the board or committee, he would have insisted that Uffindell disclose the incident publicly. The Herald’s Claire Trevett (paywalled) recalls the details of a Q & A event hosted during the by-election campaign where candidates were asked about their biggest mistake. Act candidate Cam Luxton disclosed a drink-driving conviction. Uffindell responded with “Not coming home to New Zealand sooner. There’s nowhere we’d rather raise our kids.”
More “exact vetting” of candidates committed to ahead of Uffindell’s selection
The party’s candidate selection processes have drawn criticism in the past, following scandals involving MPs and candidates including Todd Barclay in 2017, Jami-Lee Ross in 2018, Andrew Falloon and Hamish Walker in 2020 and Jake Bezzant in 2021. National’s review of its failed 2020 election campaign recommended improving candidate selection. In a Herald story from March about the party’s “National 101” summer programme, it’s noted that the party would “also conduct more exacting vetting of potential candidates to weed out any potentially problematic selections” and that the party would “begin the formal process of selecting a candidate to run in Tauranga” the following week.