Simon Bridges loves grandstanding in parliament, using heaps of supplementary questions to try to ‘get’ Jacinda Ardern. Most of the time all he succeeds in doing is pissing off his caucus by wasting questions that they could have used to skewer dead-set useless ministers.
Two and a half weeks ago he defied the Speaker by continuing to break the very rules that he helped put in place.
Yesterday, Trevor Mallard punished him in a manner reminiscent of a school teacher painting a student into a corner in a, particularly innovative and devious way. In short, the more Bridges showboats by refusing to follow the very rules his party put in place when they were in government, the fewer supplementary questions will be allocated to him personally.
You have to admire the low rat cunning of Trevor Mallard in bringing Bridges to heel. Yesterday Paula Bennett and Bridges simply shared the questions between themselves, but that will get old real fast.
Next week if Bridges doesn’t toe the line his party drew, then Mallard will remove another question, and then another until “Simple Simon”, who appears to be a slow learner, will be silenced in the house.
You’ve got to hand it to Trevor Mallard. He’s come up with a very devious punishment for a very naughty boy.
What will Simon Bridges do now?
