A DIRTY JOB: Labour leader Phil Goff puts his back into it at Papamoa Beach.

It seems that there is not a shovel in the Bay of Plenty that does not risk having a politician on the end of it.

Labour leader Phil Goff flew in yesterday to help with the cleanup of the oil spilling from the ship Rena. MP Darien Fenton joined him shovelling. John Key diverted there, and Health Minister and local MP Tony Ryall stayed at home to be near the action.

Russel Norman and Green MP Gareth Hughes were there tweeting up a storm and Transport Minister Steven Joyce was back again.

But it may be a one-day blitz. Mr Key is opening an Auckland supermarket today and Mr Goff is talking to Invercargill Grey Power.

Mr Goff visited sludge-covered Papamoa Beach and found a "real sense of anger" among locals.