Does anyone from the Clutha/Southland electorate remember Bill English? He’s from down here, the old timers say, and was seen in days gone by, revving up Federated Farmers meetings and opening Dental Clinics, but no more. Not a glimpse of his ‘farm gait’ or chiseled features for many a year. Bill is awol. Despite his absence and the fact that he lives in a shiny suit in the Capital, the droves of National loyalists living in the Clutha/Southland electorate will vote him in with a vast majority, though most won’t have seen him in the flesh. He’s a living legend is Bill, living in Wellington that is. It has always been said that the Nats could put up a dog as a candidate down here and it would romp in. At least the dog would be a local.
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Hey, that dog has a family farm, a brother farming it, and retired parents who are well-known in the district.
He may not be campaigning there, but his kids get taken back to meet their cousins regualarly, and the district knows him.
It’s the standard tory approach – bloodlines!