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November 30, 2021
National leadership contest on knife edge
Adam Gifford
Posted On November 30, 2021
Download AudioNational Party MPs will decide this afternoon whether Simon Bridges will be given a second chance as Opposition leader, or new chum Christopher Luxon will be thrust into what’s called the hardest job in politics.
Attempts to broker a deal between the two appear to have failed, and the contest is described as knife-edge.
Former National list MP Joanne Hayes, who went through two leadership contests in her time in parliament, says taking a pause over the weekend rather than trying to replace Judith Collins after Thursdays no-confidence vote was the right thing to do.
She says leadership contests are always hard to pick.
“You really don’t know what is going to happen until the day hits and the votes get counted, because just when you think you’ve got people over the line, they change their votes at the last minute. All I know is however they go about it it’s got to be clean. It’s got to be clean, there can’t be any backstabbing or anything like that once they’ve set up who is going to be their leader,” Ms Hayes says.
She says National needs to get it right, as it would be a disaster to have another spill before the election.
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