JC: Lose Your Principles, Lose Your Way

National, whether its MPs realise it or not, has shown the voters what utter brilliance they possess: a brilliance to engineer a situation where they have brought themselves down and, by association, the party. They are now in a sad and sorry state. Those involved in the debacle might be competent in their portfolios but that is not what they will be remembered for. They have portrayed themselves as lying cowards with huge egos. When voters go to the ballot box in November, that will be the picture that they have in their minds. They will be asking themselves what exactly National stands for. That is a very pertinent question.

JC: National Has Fouled Its Nest Big Time

The grossly unedifying spectacle of a failed leadership spill the National Party has just foisted upon the public is messy and stinks to high heaven; it makes Wellington’s recent problems with a large sewage spill look like a minor event. It is likely the this whole unpalatable debacle reinforces the perception among many voters that National is not fit to run the country.

JC: Where to From Here for National?

In 1961, Adam Wade in America and Tommy Steele in the UK both had hits with the song “The Writing on the Wall”. Sixty-five years later, those words should be ringing in Christopher Luxon’s ears but I don’t think they will. No leader likes the idea of losing the crown, particularly one with the self-belief that Luxon apparently holds. He has some similarities with disastrous UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in terms of low poll ratings and a reluctance to do the obvious and resign as leader. We have now had too many polls saying much the same thing – showing that Luxon as leader of the party is not a winner with the public.