The first word to reach the Poll Bludger on the matter of Geoff Gallop’s likely successor as WA Premier comes from the inimitable Andrew Landeryou, whose sources tell him that "Labor moderate State Development Minister and tough guy Alan Carpenter is likely to prevail". That would have been my tip if anyone had told me this morning that Gallop was about to pull the plug, which I would never have believed. The rest of Landeryou’s analysis sounds similarly on the money:
Deputy Premier and harmless Treasurer Eric Ripper seems much less likely, with the Left’s cunning powerbroker Health Minister Jim McGinty also a distant prospect (at least in his own mind) if there’s a split in the Right which seems unlikely. Carpenter has a comfortable lead in early caucus head-counting, largely on factional grounds. Right leader and Steve Smith ally in the New Right part of the Right, Police Minister Michelle Roberts is also a prospect and is reportedly testing her support, while Carpenter is unfortunately stuck in London and is presumably at Heathrow right now showing a degree of passenger anxiety that would normally see one detained.
As they say in the classics: Game on …
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