The Botany selection for the National Party is turning to custard. It was supposed to be a coronation for Christopher Luxon, orchestrated by local electorate chair Mark Darrow and Peter Goodfellow, but it has all the hallmarks of becoming a public relations nightmare for the party. Mark Darrow, the electorate chair, is a dirty little leaker who got dealt to by David Clark and Phil Twyford. Clark sacked him from CMDHB in 2018 and Twyford sacked him from NZTA a month or two ago.
Tuesday saw hard-working List MP, Agnes Loheni, put her name in the hat and she has also put the President’s nose out of joint. Peter Goodfellow is not the kind of guy who can rat-f*ck anyone, he’s more a cop a kick in the balls type of guy, so Agnes can safely push her case to an electorate that traditionally selects hard-working candidates.
Now another entrepreneur has joined the rather crowded list of candidates seeking the nomination.
Another globe-trotting chief executive has put his hand up to be National candidate for Botany in 2020, a race that already includes former Air NZ boss Christopher Luxon and National MP Agnes Loheni.
The Herald understands Jake Bezzant, the head of Parking Sense Global, is one of the aspiring candidates going through the pre-selection process that will be decided in the coming weeks.
Bezzant, 30 and a former Young National, has been based in the US but is thought to have recently returned to New Zealand.
He is understood to have put his name forward in the belief that Luxon was not going to stand for the Botany candidacy, but Luxon last week announced his intention to do just that.
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Bezzant was smart enough to attend the opening of National’s new office in Botany to suck up to those who matter. However he is Paula Bennett’s factotum, and so it now looks like Bennett is also thumbing her nose at the President. He strikes me as a “I’ll be an MP anywhere, as long as I’m there” type of person.
Stephen Lyon, the Kiwi businessman from the Cook Islands has also added his name and was also at the Botany office opening.
The above photo won’t really help his cause, nor will his posts raving about NZ First at the last election. You’d think people would clear their Facebook first before engaging with another party and seeking selection.
Plus there is local girl Katrina Bungard and recently elected Troy Elliot.
Sources say that Peter Goodfellow is exceedingly pissed off at the logjam, as his plan of a coronation has been scotched. Botany now looks extremely untidy, and the blame can be laid at the feet of Simon Bridges and Paula Bennett in the first instance. This would not have happened if Paula hadn’t decided to forever change the nature of politics by peering under the bed-sheets of MPs and prospective candidates.
Every one is fair game now, especially those with a not-so-secret profile on Ashley Madison. There are now more than five candidates, and Paolo Garcia is rumoured to want have a crack too. Pre-selection will be a nightmare they can only let five through under party rules. Selection will be made by 100% local members as their membership is now over 600. That means a regional stitch up isn’t possible.
That is likely to mean the stitch up will occur in Upper Harbour because the deputy leader of the party has a dreadful membership count that barely gets over 200. Right in the middle of that selection will be extremely negative headlines for the party coming from the cross-examination of Paula Bennett, Bill English and Anne Tolley in the case brought by Winston Peters.
This could get even messier as Air New Zealand is expected to announce redundancies, which will lead to inevitable questions being asked of Christopher Luxon and John Key about what they knew before Luxon “resigned” and decided to stand for parliament. It also begs the question as to why John Key as Chairman endorsed his former CEO when this news would almost certainly have been known to both.
Botany promises to be exceptionally dirty and is certainly shaping up that way so far. I wonder if a strategic withdrawal is on the cards for some. It’s either flight or fight.