The mainstream media have missed the big story of the National Party conference. Simon Bridges’ ally Glenda Hughes was voted off the board.
This is a huge loss for National. Hughes was the one board member ready to advocate challenging sitting MPs, and getting rid of underperformers or problems. She alienated Brett Hudson in his strong electorate by positioning Nicola Willis to take over from him. Hudson fought back, and even though Willis is a star and Hudson is unnoticeable, Willis was forced into taking on Paul Foster-Bell in Wellington Central.
Foster-Bell got outed by a jealous journo, and decided he could not compete against Willis but he had friends in the ‘buggers muddle’ amongst others, all of who were fighting against Hughes over the weekend. Much like at the Vatican you don’t upset the closeted.
When Todd Barclay was shafted by Bill English, Glenda Hughes was reputed to be doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes. Her involvement in the selection challenge against Barclay was not appreciated by all those in the caucus who thought Todd was a friendly, amiable young man with a big future getting stitched up by a bitter and twisted old crone who thought she was the MP for Clutha Southland. So Glenda lost most of the South Island members support, as much for sticking her nose into their business as for trying to shaft Barclay.
All this is a tragedy. It has sent a firm message to National board members. DO NOT TRY TO MOVE ON DUD MPs. The Hughes precedent will be trotted out for a generation, and board members will take the cowards path in not trying to remove the dull, the mediocre or the indigent from caucus. National has lost badly by getting rid of the only board member brave enough to take caucus renewal seriously and to actually try to bring stars like Nicola Willis into the party.
The other tragedy is that National MPs are so bitter and twisted about Hughes they have allegedly reached out across the political divide to ensure Hughes never receives another government appointment. Winston Peters was roundly thanked by National MPs for ending her tenure as Chair of the Racing Board, and a source in National says that civil servants have been told that if they ever give Hughes any other job in the public sector they will not be promoted under a future National government.
For National, this is almost as big a tragedy as Simon Bridges’ leadership. There will be no strong board role in replacing dud MPs. The risks to individual board members are too high, as Glenda Hughes has found out.