What role has Helen Clark played in this?

Guess who was speaking in Nelson last night; Stuff reports:

Did Helen Clark know David Shearer was about to walk?
Last night the former prime minister seemed to take a swipe at Shearer as she recalled her own tough baptism in the 1990s and listed the qualities she thought a successful leader needed.
She didn't directly discuss Shearer's plight during an interview with the Nelson Mail, but her comments could be read as implicit criticism of his performance.
Clark, who was in Nelson to deliver last night's 70th Cawthron lecture, said: "I went through unhappy times. I remember Easter of the first year I was leader of the Opposition. The political editor of TVNZ went on the screen and said I wouldn't last the year. I eventually hit 2 per cent and the Labour Party polling went as low as 14 per cent. It's hard-hat time when this happens."
She said to survive that, "I had to have nerves of steel and believe that I was the right person for the job, and have a strategy to build back from there".
Self-belief and attractive, clear policy positions consistent with the party's position were required.
"It's hard work - very hard work. It's always the case that you can't work harder - you have to work smarter."
Clark also said it was a pity that the relationship between the Government and Labour had broken down over the GCSB bill, because in the past the major parties had been able to work together on the security services.
She had been both GCSB and SIS minister, and had also sat alongside then prime minister, National's Jenny Shipley, when the SIS legislation was reviewed.
"A lot of the things that I suggested got picked up. Traditionally there has been a lot of co-operation between the Government and the main opposition - but it requires both to walk some steps."
She said from her experience as a minister she could say "without equivocation" that the people in both agencies were very loyal and professional public servants.
"Secondly, we need them, because the world is not an innocent and happy place."
Third, when it was decided that the law needed to be changed, "I think things always go better if there's an ability to have an open dialogue across the parties". 

We've heard a few interesting stories this afternoon. One of those is that serious change is afoot at the Labour Party HQ, Fraser House in Wellington. We've had it suggested to us that the jobs of Labour Party president Moira Coatsworth and general secretary Tim Barnett are on the line, and that Labour has been told that wholesale change is required.

Now whether Helen Clark has had anything at all to do with all this is at this point just speculation. But it is well known that she was not happy with the adversarial stance that Labour took over the rewrite of her GCSB legislation. That is borne out in the comments above.

Helen Clark may no longer be active in the Labour Party. But given that the party is stacked with people who she personally promoted, it would be naive to suggest that she no longer has any influence. 

We don't like Helen Clark's politics, but she is a formidable politician. It would not surprise us one iota if Miss Clark's cellphone had been working overtime over the last few days.