Judith Collins’ leadership is looking under serious threat as her MPs descend on Parliament for an emergency caucus meeting. If she can’t explain why she disciplined Simon Bridges it will be clear it was nothing more than a pre-emptive strike, writes political editor Jo Moir.
Overnight Simon Bridges was demoted and stripped of his responsibilities by leader Judith Collins for alleged crude remarks he made to colleague, Jacqui Dean, in 2017.
On his way into Parliament on Thursday morning Bridges told media Collins’ actions were “truly desperate stuff’’.
“It shows actually she’ll go to any length to hold onto the leadership of the National Party.
“There’s a huge amount I want to say about what happened yesterday and how wrong it was, and I assure you will, but I want to talk to my caucus first and be very clear with them about what I think should happen for the National Party,’’ Bridges said.
His supporters are already making it clear they back him.
National MP Tim van de Molen walked to Parliament alongside Bridges.
Shortly after, Bridges’ brother-in-law, Simon O’Connor, arrived and told media Collins had to go.
He said he was handing over his portfolios this morning as he could no longer work with Collins as leader.
The caucus is meeting at 9am and all signs are pointing to a leadership challenge.
Bridges will be lining himself up for the job but there is also support around newcomer Chris Luxon.
The liberal wing of the party will also be pushing for change and the workhorse of the caucus since the election, Chris Bishop, who has been a strong performer in the Covid portfolio could also be a consideration.
Collins takes on Bridges
Time and time again Collins has publicly warned that she expects high levels of discipline from her MPs.
Bridges’ overnight demotion and stripping of his responsibilities makes him the latest casualty of what Collins considers to be behaviour not befitting an MP.
When she made the decision to push former leader Todd Muller out of caucus to sit on the sidelines of the party until he leaves at the 2023 election, he created a living walking example of what happens to those who disobey her.
Muller was ratted out to Collins by his then-friend and colleague, Barbara Kuriger, for being one of the MPs who spoke out against the return of Harete Hipango.
When Collins got wind of it she marched Muller to caucus and in a show of unity, and possibly fear, given Muller wasn’t alone in talking to Newsroom, his colleagues all agreed he needed to leave at the next election and was no longer welcome at caucus meetings.
Hipango’s return to Parliament was a result of long-serving MP, Nick Smith’s, swift departure from politics.
It’s never been made entirely clear how much Collins was to blame for Smith’s decision to leave but she was certainly part of it by telling him a story framing him in a bad light was set to break in the media.
It never did but Smith went anyway, making room for Collins’ loyalist Hipango to come back.
Those MPs spoken to by Newsroom on Wednesday night had no knowledge of the historic incident that has prompted this whole mess.
Bridges, a former leader, and minister, appears to also be on a path out of Parliament and is the latest twist in the National Party horror show.
It was announced in a 9.25 pm press release from Collins on Wednesday that appears to have blindsided everyone, including her own MPs.
Those MPs spoken to by Newsroom on Wednesday night had no knowledge of the historic incident that has prompted this whole mess.
Newsroom understands Bridges made crude remarks to his colleague, Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean, at an event five years ago, when Bill English was leader of the party.
In her press release, Collins said her decision followed an allegation of serious misconduct relating to Bridges’ interaction with a female caucus colleague at a function a number of years ago.
“Having been made aware of the seriousness of the complaint for the first time and the ongoing distress this has caused the complainant, I was left with no option but to immediately demote Simon Bridges and relieve him of his portfolio responsibilities,’’ Collins said.
“Under my leadership, the National Party will not tolerate harassment and intimidation of any person.’’
Collins said she had the unanimous support of the National Party board to take the “swift and decisive’’ response she has.
Newsroom understands the board had never been told of the incident when it happened in 2017 and the first it knew of it was last night when Collins brought it to members’ attention.
The board also has no role whatsoever in portfolios or caucus rankings – that’s the jurisdiction of the leader, and rightly so.
It’s a very different approach to how she handled Muller’s so-called leaking, which amounted to something similar to his colleagues gathering around him to chant “shame, shame, shame’’ and had nothing to do with the board.
It’s likely Collins would have known she wouldn’t get the support of the caucus if she tried asked for it in disciplining him, given Bridges has his own camp still and has been making no secret of his ambitions to be leader again.
Muller and Smith were both seen by colleagues as liabilities – Bridges, however, is not.
Collins might have viewed the board as her friend in this, or more specifically the board chair Peter Goodfellow, which prompted her to go there for permission to act against Bridges.
Goodfellow’s re-election as chair earlier this year was controversial after a series of mishaps and failings within the party, including candidate selection, that made it seem like his time was up in the job.
Former Cabinet Minister and Speaker, Sir David Carter, was widely tipped to replace him and Newsroom was told in April when the elections were held that Collins switched her vote from Carter to Goodfellow at the last minute.
It’s possible Goodfellow owed Collins and she knew she’d get his support to walk over Bridges and be rid of him.
At the same time, it’s also possible Collins genuinely believes what Bridges did was wrong and she has taken a complaint from Dean seriously and acted on it appropriately.
Without the details of what was said, and how it was dealt with at the time, it’s difficult to know.
Dean is expected to front media at 10am and should answer many of those questions.
The problem for Collins is that she has a track record for moving people on, she even got former Labour Party Minister Iain Lees-Galloway pushed out of Parliament after passing on details of a relationship he had to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Collins took the credit for bringing that to Ardern’s attention, which prompted many to assume it was purely a political opportunity and nothing at all to do with the relationship and its appropriateness, or lack of.
Considering Dean is believed to have been in Bridges’ camp when the caucus held a leadership vote between him and Muller last year, it remains unclear what has prompted Dean to want to relive this distress.
Her career will undoubtedly be impacted by the fallout of all this, and with Bridges expected to tell his side of the story today, it could end up being a very ugly he-said-she-said.
There are distractions in the form of red lights and sirens going off left, right and centre in the National Party and they’re all of Collins’ doing.
Bridges won’t roll over and take this lightly and while he doesn’t have a majority of the caucus backing him to replace Collins, he has support, and that’s all he needs to fight back.
Muller’s camp deserted him in his hour of need, and he was left with no choice but to ride off into the sunset quietly.
Bridges already felt like he had unfinished business after he was so spectacularly rolled by Muller’s camp only for Collins to end up stepping into the job a couple of months later.
She started the year saying her party and MPs wouldn’t be distracted.
It speaks volumes that at a time when Labour is dipping in the polls and losing the public on its Covid messaging, Collins has decided now is the time to put the spotlight back on National – and not in a good way.
There are distractions in the form of red lights and sirens going off left, right and centre in the National Party and they’re all of Collins’ doing.
