Stuart Nash’s employer launches ‘formal review’ after ‘deeply inappropriate’ remarks

Wednesday, 10 September 2025

Stuart Nash was sacked from the Labour Party in 2023.

The employer of former Labour MP Stuart Nash has launched a “formal review” over Nash’s “deeply inappropriate” remarks about women in a broadcast interview.

Nash, who has sought to resurrect a political career but with NZ First in the past five days, has run into trouble and strained his professional ties after appearing on internet radio station The Platform and giving a crude definition for what a woman is.

The former Labour minister, who was sacked from Cabinet in 2023 for breaching confidentiality by sharing policy discussions with a political donor, said on air that a woman was a person with “a p…y and a pair of t..s”. In a later LinkedIn post, he apologised for the “crude and disrespectful remark”.

Recruitment firm Robert Walters, which has employed Nash since he left Parliament, issued a statement about the comments made by Nash “in a personal capacity” and said an employment process was under way.

Stuart Nash made the comments in an interview with Sean Plunket’s online radio station, The Platform on Tuesday.

“The remarks are deeply inappropriate and do not reflect our values or the standards of our business,” a spokesperson said.

“We have initiated a formal review, and we will not be commenting further while that process is ongoing.'

Nash has also joined the board of the Taxpayers’ Union in recent months. Board chairperson Ruth Richardson, a former National finance minister, said the “crude and crass language has no place around the TPU board table”.

Nash has been contacted for comment. On Tuesday, he issued a brief statement on social media: “This morning on The Platform I made a crude and disrespectful remark when asked to define a woman. It was wrong and unacceptable, and I apologise unreservedly for the offence that this comment may have caused.”

Nash had at the weekend appeared at the NZ First convention and declared his allegiance to the party, floating the possibility of a run in the 2026 election.

NZ First leader Winston Peters on Wednesday said Nash had rung him to apologise for his remarks.

“He was sorry he said it. I accepted that. But he also said that when he was on the show.”

Right before making the remarks, Nash said: “Last time I said something like this, I got in trouble”.