Its Over Luxon Wins

[Oldfellah]

Christopher Luxon is now set to be the new leader of the National Party after Simon Bridges pulled out of the leadership race.
Bridges confirmed the move on Twitter and said he'd met with Luxon this morning and had a "great discussion".
"I am withdrawing from the leadership contest and will be backing Chris. He will make a brilliant National leader and Prime Minister," Bridges said.


What are your thoughts?

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I think a lot of people in their caucus will be sharpening their knives in preparation for another rolling just before the next election.

Welcome in ACT, the real opposition.

[Lilith7]

I think a lot of people in their caucus will be sharpening their knives in preparation for another rolling just before the next election.

Welcome in ACT, the real opposition.

 I'm really not a fan of ACT, but I do admire David Seymour for having got the end of life bill over the line.

That's where it ends however; they're a very right wing party, very keen on 'personal responsibility' but not much interested in community responsibility.

[yousnoozeyoulose]

And the insufferable Nicola Willis as deputy. Quite the combo.

[Oldfellah]

Luxon the puppet Key the puppet master

[Lilith7]

And the insufferable Nicola Willis as deputy. Quite the combo.

The odd thing is, I know nothing about Nicola Willis - but for whatever reason, I'm just not at all keen on her.

[yousnoozeyoulose]

Willis is very shouty and very political. One of 'those' types.

My main memory of her is seeing her glumly shoe shopping on Lambton Quay a week after narrowly missing out on getting into parliament as a list MP.

Will be interesting to see how these two pan out - you tend to choose a more experienced deputy when you've got a raw leader, but I guess the National bench was a little light this time round.

[Oldfellah]

According to Wikipedia

Willis contested the 2017 election as National's candidate for the electorate of Wellington Central, and was number 48 on the party list. Based on preliminary results, she would enter parliament, but in the final results, National went down two seats whilst the Labour and Green parties increased by a seat each. Willis was second in line should there be a vacancy in a list seat held by a National Party MP during the 52nd New Zealand Parliament, and following Bill English's and Steven Joyce's resignations in March 2018, she and Maureen Pugh entered parliament.


Willis was appointed National's spokesperson on early childhood education by leader Simon Bridges.

Willis played a significant role in the leadership coup that saw Bridges removed as Leader and replaced by Todd Muller,acting as Muller's "numbers man" alongside Chris Bishop. She was subsequently promoted to 14th in caucus with the portfolios of Housing and Urban Development, and retaining Early Childhood Education

[Oh_hunnihunni]

So, good with a knife then?

[Lilith7]

So, good with a knife then?

Specialising in treachery, with backstabbing an added extra?

[Oldfellah]

One of the lines in Luxons speech.

"I have built a career out of reversing the fortunes of underperforming companies and I'll bring that real-world experience to this role."

So now National is no longer a political party it is a company?

[yousnoozeyoulose]

A company that's probably due for a round of layoffs...

[Outsider]

No chance of winning the next election. he just doesn't relate to ordinary people.

[TygerTung]

Drop the bomb....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0S-HOOp_VY

[Lilith7]

One of the lines in Luxons speech.

"I have built a career out of reversing the fortunes of underperforming companies and I'll bring that real-world experience to this role."

So now National is no longer a political party it is a company?

  Yeah, that was slightly worrying - there are a few on the right who actually think that way, that running a country is much the same as running a business.

[harm_less]

One of the lines in Luxons speech.

"I have built a career out of reversing the fortunes of underperforming companies and I'll bring that real-world experience to this role."

So now National is no longer a political party it is a company?

  Yeah, that was slightly worrying - there are a few on the right who actually think that way, that running a country is much the same as running a business.

He's due for a surprise if he thinks a caucus full of squabbling MPs is going to be as easy to control as a committee of company executives, especially under the gaze of the electing public.

[Lilith7]

Agreed - it should be really interesting, though.

[Olive]

His voice! He's got that chalk-on-a-blackboard vocal fry that guarantees cut through at noisy meetings, and the glibness/fluency that prevents anyone else from getting a word in edgewise. Reminds me so much of the corporate world that I'd hoped not to have to think about ever again.

[Lilith7]

Something about Nicola Willis reminds me slightly of Ruth Richardson. Not a comfortable thought.

[Oldfellah]

Luxon told reporters he had known his deputy since her time at Fonterra in between parliamentary stints. Exactly how they became acquainted was left unclear, but in addition to their mutual admiration of Key there is an Air New Zealand connection; WillisÔÇÖ husband Duncan Small served as the airlineÔÇÖs head of government and industry affairs from 2015 to 2018.