Tim Watkin: R.E.S.P.E.C.T. - Find out what it means to Me...Ka

It’s one of those lines oft-trotted out by parents, managers and trainers, but is no less true for its homespun nature. The line goes: “It’s not just what you do, but how you do it”.

What Meka Whaitiri did yesterday morning is significant enough. A sitting minister (outside of cabinet) leaving a party less than six months out from an election is a shocking move. The timing and the scale of the decision – let alone the political message it sends voters – is inherently dramatic.