Cake On Head

ACT'S Mt Albert by-election candidate wore the brunt of his opponents' frustration with the proposed Auckland super-city when he was smeared with cake at a debate yesterday.

John Boscawen attended the hour-long Unitec debate alongside fellow candidates - Labour's David Shearer, National's Melissa Lee and Green Party co- leader Russel Norman.

As Mr Boscawen spoke of the virtues of changes to Auckland's local governance, People Before Profit by- election candidate and super-city opponent Malcolm France surged forward from the crowd and smeared his head with a slice of chocolate lamington cake, In Unison student magazine editor Stacey Knott said.

"It was pretty sudden. This guy just ran up and smeared cake on his [Boscawen's] head and then retreated back to the crowd and then, I think, security took him out."

Ms Lee, whose own campaign has been mired by a series of blunders, helped Mr Boscawen clean off the cake and the debate continued. "There was a bit of shock but he kept carrying on as usual. John Boscawen didn't really do anything he just continued his sentence," Miss Knott said.

Mr Boscawen said at first he thought it was a "wet squeegee" on his head. Not wanting to lose his allotted speaking time, he continued to talk.

Happy to donate cakes to anyone who wishes to place them on Zambry, Zahid Hamidi and Rais Yatim's hallow head.