Where has Matt McCarten been hiding?

Matt McCarten's weekly Herald advertisement for left-wing causes is devoted to Labour's leadership battle. Feel free to go and have a read; it's normal McCarten fare.

But you have to wonder where McCarten has been hiding when he writes something like this (the emphasis is ours):

Common sense suggests neither contender will have a deputy running mate.
Robertson has been a loyal deputy and has done nothing to undermine Shearer. That has earned him points. Cunliffe has the opposite reputation, not just with Shearer but with Phil Goff when he was leader.

Sorry Matt, but that cannot go unchallenged. Grant Robertson has undermined David Shearer from the day that Mr Shearer misguidedly appointed him as his deputy leader. Robertson stacked the leader's office with his people. Robertson has stood idly by while Shearer made gaffe after gaffe after gaffe.

And where was the "loyal deputy" at 1.30pm on Thursday when David Shearer fronted the media to announce his resignation? If Grant Robertson had truly been a "loyal deputy", he would have been standing at Shearer's shoulder. Whether his absence from the media conference was his own decision or because David Shearer made a belated defiant stand and told him to stay away is irrelevant; it was a lasting indictment on Mr Robertson.

David Shearer broke the golden rule by appointing a deputy leader who had ambitions for the top job. He should have looked at successful Prime Ministers past such as Jim Bolger, Helen Clark and even John Key who had as their deputies Don McKinnon, Michael Cullen and Bill English; solid, experienced and dependable politicians, without any future ambition to lead.

Matt McCarten used to be a shrewd political operative. That he is reduced to trying to talk up Grant Robertson in this manner suggests that he has passed his use-by date. Then again, perhaps the Mana Party doesn't want David Cunliffe leading Labour.