Reading Between the Lines Because National’s Caucus Can’t

Newsroom ran an interesting piece yesterday, ahead of NZ First’s conference, about the succession planning for NZ First.

Contained within the article was an interesting couple of sentences about the possibility of a deal with National at some stage:

Could a Simon Bridges-led National Party make the sort of changes needed to win Peters and his party over?

“It would require a hitherto unseen, serious update on his knowledge of economics, and dare I say it philosophy – but nobody is beyond redemption.”

Newsroom

Let me use simple words to translate that so the more dimwitted of National’s caucus can grasp what the wily old fox is saying.

1. No show of a Simon Bridges-led National Party winning over Winston
2. Someone who has a modicum of economic nous, and some principles might have a chance.

While Simon Bridges is wedded to Paula Bennett and he remains the leader, National has zero chance of getting into power.

I know that readers can’t yet reconcile that themselves, but the first public inkling that he is unsuited to leadership was the release of favourability ratings for the leaders. These are common everywhere else in the world and yet they’ve only just surfaced here. National runs their own favourability rating but they are a closely held secret that only the key people in National’s leadership team know. The caucus is rarely given these numbers and the reason why is that for both Bill English and for Simon Bridges the numbers are simply dreadful.

Now caucus knows, and in every poll now on 1News, the caucus will be able to see what it is that Todd McClay refuses to release to them. It is those numbers that saw the falling out between Jami-lee Ross and Bridges because Bridges didn’t like Ross pointing out the increasingly large credibility deficit. That is why Paula Bennett jumped on the phone to Tim Murphy and Melanie Read and organised the brutal hit job on their truth-telling MP, forever changing the rules of politics in the process. That is why Paula Bennett tried to use the same tactics to try and get rid of Matt King, to which Winston Peters alluded to in parliament the other day.

The numbers are also the reason why both Topham Guerin and Crosby|Textor have fired National as clients. National is keeping that information rather close to their chests, but operatives of both companies are making sure their company names aren’t going to be associated with a loss from a Bridges-led National Party.

National needs to axe the top table, gut the board and start picking hard-working candidates, not those with some sort of alleged star factor that will wane rather quickly once the news of redundancies at Air New Zealand become official, (not to mention a rather pesky court case that could well prove embarrassing to Christopher Luxon that is due to commence in the Auckland High Court in November). Of course, there is also a date in court for Paula Bennett and Anne Tolley that may well prove fatal to Tolley’s career. That’s certainly the way that Bill English and Paula Bennett have played the case so far. Sadly, Anne Tolley is too foolish to realise that Bill and Paula have chucked her under the bus.

Until National’s caucus grasps the nettle then they are doomed to remain in opposition.

Bridges cannot compete with Jacinda Ardern in debates or anywhere and he will simply be minced, dooming National to another three years in the wilderness.