Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is the Queen of the Captain’s Call. Her most famous Captain’s Call to date is her call on Oil and Gas. Without consulting anyone she made a decision that tanked Taranaki‘s economy, slashed employment and destroyed businesses.
Simon Bridges is her brother from another mother making his very own Captain’s Call that will tank National’s support, slash the number of National MPs who will get in on the list and destroy his chances of ever becoming the Prime Minister.
I am talking of course about his Captain’s Call to rule out NZ First. His announcement caught his fellow National MP’s by surprise, and the lack of enthusiasm for his announcement was obvious by the small number of retweets of his announcement by them immediately afterwards.
Everyone has now joined ranks to cover up the fact that this was a Captain’s Call rather than a democratic decision voted for by Caucus or the National party membership and board, and Bridges is busy explaining himself now that his Captain’s Call has been revealed by Media.
Bridges told Morning Report it was his call to rule out the party, but he did consult with colleagues and signalled his intentions to his caucus and the board, all of which he felt were in unanimous support.
He “felt” that they would support him. Not they voted to support him.
The reality is that National party politicians will close ranks and support their leader regardless of whether or not they agree with him or not. Public unity is very important so now that the horse has bolted they are hardly going to come out against it even if they know that it will hurt the party and them personally.
“It’s not just me as I say, it’s a view my caucus shares, a view that the board that I also met with before announcing the decision shares and endorsed.
rnz.co.nz/news/political/408713/simon-bridges-says-caucus-backs-him-on-ruling-out-new-zealand-first-move
So why did they not vote on it if he was so sure that they were unanimously in support? If they were in reality 100% supportive then he would not have said that it was “his call” to rule out NZ First he would have said that it was put to Caucus and the board and the majority voted to make that call. He can wrap it up in clean linen all he likes but it was a Captain’s Call and if his strategy fails he will now have to go down with the ship.
If you enjoyed this BFD article please consider sharing it with your friends.