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Chris Hipkins did to Michael Wood the least he could, without doing nothing.

At least he did something, which is an improvement on Jacinda Ardern.

Ardern never understood that doing nothing wasn\\u2019t actually leading. It applied to policy and discipline.

It took astonishing amounts of poor behaviour, if not downright law breaking, for you to ever incur the wrath of a woman who hated controversy.

At least Hipkins understands in election season, at a time when the Government looks increasingly checked out, pretending what Wood did was a non-event, is a non-starter.

And so he gets stood down. That\'s it.

He should, of course, have been sacked.

His only defence is incompetence. There is no dispute over the actions, there is no dispute rules were broken and there is no dispute the rules were known.

Essentially, he stands aside, not from Cabinet, but from relative portfolios until, presumably, he flicks his airports shares. At which point he\'s back as though nothing happened.

That is one of the many problems besetting this Government. He is only stood down because there is literally no one to take his place, as Ginny Andersen and Jan Tinetti have so aptly demonstrated with their promotions.

It also shows an ongoing laziness for process and respect for the institution. It\'s like they\'re either thick, or don\\u2019t care.

Or both.

What hasn\\u2019t been addressed by Wood, is upon his declaration of share ownership to the Cabinet Office, why did he not think that being a shareholder and the Minister of Auckland and the Minister of Transport/light rail that that wasn\\u2019t the most glaring of conflicts of interest?

Why wasn\\u2019t he all over that? Why wasn\\u2019t he squeaky clean? Why didn\\u2019t he bend over backwards to make sure his credentials were sound?

He had to be asked six times to sell his shares, for goodness sake.

And now it\\u2019s the usual flannel about telling people he thought he did something, but didn\\u2019t, and then he didn\\u2019t sell his shares, but thought he did.

If you can\'t run your own affairs properly, then how do you run your portfolio? Or the country?

I think, in that, lies the real truth.

The reason this lot are so hopeless is because that\\u2019s simply what they are. They\'re hopeless, in life, as in politics.

The Government are a bewildered mess that can barely get through the day.

They are shabby, hence the country is shabby.

You lead - or fail from the top.

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