Nat MPs one week window of relevance

Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, December 6th, 2016 - 48 comments
Categories: leadership, national - Tags: , ,

Life must be tough as a Nat MP. Key has been so dominant for so long that they have become invisible. The only ones we ever hear about are the ones who screw up.

But now, for a one glorious week, Nat MPs are somewhat relevant. They get to vote on the new leader. (Sorry Nat members – you remain completely irrelevant – no vote for you – though National is happy to keep taking your money – ka-ching!)

For one week the factions are all out in the open, the infighting has begun – Discontent stirs among National Party caucus after John key’s shocking resignation

Key’s dream-team for the succession is known to be English as Prime Minister, Paula Bennett as Deputy Prime Minister and Steven Joyce as Finance Minister.

That is the likely outcome because Key’s influence remains huge.

But sources spoken to by the Herald suggest a pocket of discontent with some not wanting the baton passed without a contest next Monday, even with the knowledge English will be the likely successor.

There is speculation that Health Minister Jonathan Coleman and Justice Minister Amy Adams are considering a run, possibly on a new generation ticket.

Judith Collins, too, is not ruling out a bid and Paula Bennett has made no decisions.

Enjoy your week N-MPs! After it is passed you will be required to shut up and toe the line again. And you will meekly do it too – in public at least.

48 comments on “Nat MPs one week window of relevance ”

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  1. Ovid 1
    6 December 2016 at 11:20 am

    The leadership race may be a three-way between English, Collins and Coleman. Interestingly, the National Party constitution is silent on whether the leader needs more than half of caucus’s support or just a simple plurality.

  2. Guerilla Surgeon 2
    6 December 2016 at 11:55 am

    It’s Significant that Key said he wished he could have done more for poor children in New Zealand, but that his greatest regret was the flag debacle. I suspect that’s the measure of the man really.

    • Cinny 2.1
      6 December 2016 at 1:02 pm

      Indeed and Meti feels the same…

      Oral Questions – 6 December 2016

      2. METIRIA TUREI to the Prime Minister: Ka tĆ« ia i runga i te mana o tana kƍrero “I honestly wish I could have changed the flag”, i te wā i pātaitia ai, he aha tana tino pƍuri nui?

      Translation: Does he stand by his statement that “I honestly wish I could have changed the flag”, when asked for his greatest regret?

  3. adam 3
    6 December 2016 at 12:41 pm

    Is it this type of HAPPY?!?!??

  4. Rosemary McDonald 4
    6 December 2016 at 1:17 pm

    Jonathon Coleman to replace Key?

    Great choice, and he’s clearly up to the task of continuing the Great Work….

    http://www.noted.co.nz/currently/profiles/minister-of-health-jonathan-coleman-interview/

    An anticipatory article from the Listener?

    “Jonathan Coleman has a voice like a late-night drag on a dying cigar: a rich blend of authority and entitlement, carelessness and confidence. Crackling through the croaky delivery are sparks of mischief and a faux protestation of innocence. Who me? But make no mistake. This is a highly ambitious minister, adept at the dark arts of politics and smart enough to almost always get away with it.

    Coleman is a hyper-achiever. He was head boy at Auckland Grammar, went to medical school, earned a post-graduate diploma of obstetrics and an MBA, set up a GP’s practice overseas and was a management consultant at PWC – all before ­becoming the first doctor in 70 years to take the health portfolio. Health is a matter of life and death in the John Key school of Government. The Prime Minister has long believed voters only really care about four things: health, education, law and order and the economy. Coleman is central to the fabric of the Government. And things are starting to fray.

    The wider problem is that we’ve got this fragmented system and we haven’t had a good system for developing talent in terms of executive management. So when we need a new chief ­executive or a new CFO, they just advertise in the Otago Daily Times or the Dominion Post or whatever.

    “There is not the training programme taking in smart young grads and developing them. Because these are great jobs. If you are running a major DHB you might be on $500,000-600,000.”

    Despite these reservations, he has no appetite to change the way DHBs are constituted. A proposal from the Director-General of Health’s office, leaked last year, suggested reducing the number of board members and having two-thirds of them appointed by the minister. Most DHBs have 11 members, with seven chosen through local government elections. Coleman told the Listener it will stay that way.”

    Hmmmm…https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/minister-announces-dhb-board-appointments

    Yes, yes, yes…this is The Man all right…;-)

    • The Chairman 4.1
      6 December 2016 at 1:50 pm

      I always thought Coleman sounds just like Key.

      If they want a fresher look, Coleman and Adams would be the way to go.

      • Rex Morris 4.1.1
        6 December 2016 at 7:29 pm

        Or Adams and Coleman

      • swordfish 4.1.2
        6 December 2016 at 7:59 pm

        “I always thought Coleman sounds just like Key.”

        Yep, like a deliberate impersonation of all of Key’s mannerisms and studied, carefully-contrived mumbling.

        Not unlike (The Simpsons) Mayor Quimby’s parody of JFK and Ted Kennedy, complete with Upper-Middle Massachusetts / Cape Cod timbre.

        • the pigman 4.1.2.1
          6 December 2016 at 9:18 pm

          I heard him on Checkpoint tonight and my first thought was that he’d deployed his surgical skills to perform a complete voice transplant of Keys to himself. I couldn’t get over how contrived it sounded, til it started faltering in the interview proper.

    • AB 4.2
      6 December 2016 at 4:00 pm

      Coleman is a total snake and would turn people off in droves

      • The Chairman 4.2.1
        6 December 2016 at 4:08 pm

        No more than Bennett or Collins.

        Nevertheless, he’s not my cup of tea, but there is no denying the two would provide a fresher look.

      • Matthew Whitehead 4.2.2
        6 December 2016 at 4:32 pm

        He’s at least as strong an option as English or Bennett, although I hadn’t initially considered him as Nats are typically pretty serious about seniority in choosing a leader, and Coleman doesn’t have it. There’s an outside chance he could win, but personally I wouldn’t bet on him, even though he seems like probably the best option of all the declared candidates.

        • The Chairman 4.2.2.1
          7 December 2016 at 11:25 am

          Coleman as leader is my prediction.

          The reasoning is they won’t want to look as if they’re going backwards. National will want to be seen as a party that’s innovative and moving forward.

          Moreover, English has been tested and failed, hence they won’t want to repeat/risk that mistake.

          Bennett or Collins are both well known but are also widely disliked, hence too high risk. To his advantage in that respect, Coleman is less known outside the beltway.

          The Party will be gutted Key left them far more vulnerable at such a crucial time within the election cycle.

      • mosa 4.2.3
        7 December 2016 at 12:18 am

        The creepy doctor Mr Moneybags.

      • KJT 4.2.4
        7 December 2016 at 8:43 am

        So will any of the bunch of arrogant incompetents in National.
        The problem with Key is that, he was very competent in lulling people to sleep, while the foundations of the country were being worn away.

    • Tamati Tautuhi 4.3
      6 December 2016 at 7:53 pm

      The guy still doesn’t understand that sugar and fizzy drinks cause problems in the human body/metabolism?

      He might have these fancy pieces of paper however it appears he is lacking in common sense?

      That’s my diagnosis anyway.

    • Psych nurse 4.4
      7 December 2016 at 7:42 am

      He’d be great, Annette King only has to open her mouth and he’s lost his cool.

  5. michelle 5
    6 December 2016 at 3:02 pm

    There is nothing fresh in the gnats party accept for fresh air and if they get re-elected God help us we might have to pay for that to

    • The Chairman 5.1
      6 December 2016 at 3:08 pm

      If National get re-elected it will be because Labour didn’t up their game.

      But don’t worry, after the Mt Roskill win, Labour think they are on the right track to win. Chuckles.

      • Tamati Tautuhi 5.1.1
        6 December 2016 at 7:56 pm

        Labour have to prove to the NZ Public they are a credible opposition party and not just a light weight version of National dressed in Red?

      • Muttonbird 5.1.2
        6 December 2016 at 9:21 pm

        Laila Harre has asked you to support Andrew Little and a Labour/Green government.

        Why won’t you do it?

        • The Chairman 5.1.2.1
          7 December 2016 at 7:07 am

          Funny that, Labour wouldn’t support Laila.

          Moreover, Little was more accommodating towards (who Little himself called a right-winger) Leggett (after Leggett quit Labour and opposed their endorsement in the local body elections) than he is to working with Hone.

          http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11725623

          Additionally, Little recently scoffed at the notion of Labour going further left.

          Here’s a thought, if Labour want the full support of the left, they are going to have to work harder to represent them.

          While I want National out, I don’t want National lite in. And I’m far from the only one in the left that feels this way.

          Which is a big problem Labour have yet to convince us they are able to overcome.

          • Cinny 5.1.2.1.1
            7 December 2016 at 7:45 am

            Loved what Laila wrote on TDB, she’s one amazing and very wise woman, the kind of wisdom that comes with removing ones ego from the situation. I’ve massive respect for her, even more so after reading her piece yesterday.

            • The Chairman 5.1.2.1.1.1
              7 December 2016 at 8:17 am

              I particularly liked this bit: “Labour’s attention should be unequivocally on core Labour issues” 

              However, with Little scoffing at the notion of taking the Party further left, he gives us little hope.

              Therefore, with Labour currently stuck in centrist mode, a full endorsement from the Greens is bringing the Greens further to the centre instead of bringing Labour back to the left.

  6. infused 6
    6 December 2016 at 11:13 pm

    Coleman will get bugger all votes.

    No one likes Collins. For Nats to vote her in would be a left win next year.

    Bill English is the only choice at the moment. If National do manage to keep it together, they will lose the following election imo.

    The feel is everyone apart from English wants a change in policy. That’s bad news for everyone. It will pull down business confidence.

    So in a nutshell, anyone other than Bill English at this stage will spell disaster for National.

  7. WILD KATIPO 7
    7 December 2016 at 12:17 am

    L0L ! …. its almost sickening to watch,… all the little gutless haters and wreckers fighting amonsgt themselves for rank in the pack after the alpha dog got run over … even that goes to show they are nothing but the left overs compared to their former boss … who they were too gutless then to challenge…

    reminds me off this for some reason…

  8. mosa 8
    7 December 2016 at 1:03 am

    I wish it was Collins.

    At least next year would be one hell of a ride and liven things up.

    English may say he has changed and is ready to lead unlike his disaster of 2002 but he still has all the charisma of a kidney stone.

    With Joyce in Finance at least the working poor will stay exactly as they have been all along …poor.

  9. WILD KATIPO 9
    7 December 2016 at 2:37 am

    National is sunk .

    None of these perennial losers have either the personality nor the competence nor the luxury of a PR machine that was only successful because of the relatively unknown status of a Merril Lynch money trader that was flown in to fulfill a particular corporate agenda.

    Look at them all !!!

    Some git who led National to one of its greatest ever defeats and suffers shellshock because of it – along with having the charisma of an unwashed sock – remember the last time he tried to convince the NZ public that selling off SOE’s was a good thing? – and then what about his nickname – the Double Dipper from Dipton ? – think that’s ever going to be forgotten , – and how he earned it?

    Then weve got an abrasive cow who gets offside with all her colleagues , gets others to use dirty political techniques along with enjoying the company of dirty political bloggers and has a penchant for doing a bit of business on the side while overseas on official govt business. And about the only good thing she ever had going for herself is that shes probably about the only one amongst any of these wimps who might ever have stood up to the flown – in ex – Merril Lynch guy.

    Next up we have a man who as campaign manager failed twice in two by election campaigns, – despite being labelled Mr Fixit !… so just what did he fix? … his own ability to ever be taken seriously by the public ever again and having the additional problem of foreign leaders forever trying to suppress bursting out hysterically with laughter every time they look at him whilst thinking back to John Olivers take on Mr Fixit and DILDO’S… ?!!?

    And we cannot ever forget the other obnoxious cow of the line up. This particular one has a penchant for calling people ‘ sweetie’ ,… though not as a term of endearment but rather as a condescending put down whenever shes caught out – yet despite that , – probably one of the silliest moments of humour she has ever provided us with , … is the time she paid one lot $5000.00 to get out of Auckland and then another $2000.00 to come back again and then do it all again !!! – and all this behind the Double Dippers back when the D.D was busy writing up the national budget !

    SERIOUSLY !!!

    IS THIS RABBLE WHAT NEW ZEALAND HAS IN STORE FOR ITSELF ?!!?

    ITS TIME WE ALL CALLED TIME ON THIS CIRCUS !!!!

    PLEASE !!!

    • Nick 9.1
      7 December 2016 at 11:58 am

      Totally WK….What a crap bunch…thank goodness NZ has been watching these people over the last few years causing shit wherever they step, and now without Shonkey hiding the shit behind his Barbie smile …the natz Emporer’s new clothes will be revealed….invisible…empty

      • Sam C 9.1.1
        7 December 2016 at 3:20 pm

        “what a crap bunch”. As opposed to Mallard, King, Cosgrove, Parker, Mahuta, Lees-Galloway, Curren, Dyson, Williams, Wall.

        Yeah, that lot are real rock stars.

    • Bea Brown 9.2
      7 December 2016 at 2:48 pm

      I know some of you think calling people childish names is the height of hilarity but calling any woman a cow says much more about you than about her.

      • WILD KATIPO 9.2.1
        7 December 2016 at 4:15 pm

        Fact is she is a cow ‘ Sweetie’.

        Thank your lucky stars I wasn’t tempted to put what I really thought about the both of them .

        How about you ask a few family’s living in cars on minimal wages their opinions of these two cows, eh mate?

        Kid glove treatment for the cows in National but fuck the Polynesian cleaners who clean their shitty parliamentary toilets , eh?

        Cow my bloody arse!!

        Harden the fuck up and go play your politically correct bullshit games somewhere else.

        People who try and take the moral high ground by pointing out such petty and irrelevant points to try and divert from the serious destruction that has been brought on by 8 years of this Key lead National govt to literally tens of thousands of fellow New Zealanders demonstrate their purely politically tribal motives for doing so.

  10. Cemetery Jones 10
    7 December 2016 at 9:16 am

    “Life must be tough as a Nat MP”

    Problem is, life isn’t tough enough as a Labour MP – probably why they can’t land a hit on that massive blue barn door which has sat there begging to be slugged these last few years. They need a decent cull and replacement with some more interesting/inspiring people if they think to capitalise on this. I’d like to see it, but current caucus lineup is not match fit for the fight. Even the most helpless piñata can survive the battering of a weakling.

  11. pdm 11
    7 December 2016 at 12:01 pm

    Some pointers for the National vote:

    1. It will all be done in one week.
    2. The National Caucus will elect their leader. They will not have someone they did not want foisted on them by an outside influence.
    3. Any dissent will remain in house.

    • Delia 11.1
      7 December 2016 at 12:35 pm

      Yet already Judith is talking to the media about why she is ‘heads and shoulders’ above her colleagues and didn’t she always tell us what a loyal team they were and any minor issues were settled quietly in-house. The party of conceit, who spend hours of taxpayers money patting each other on the back in parliament.

  12. Nessalt 12
    7 December 2016 at 1:06 pm

    “But now, for a one glorious week, Nat MPs are somewhat relevant. They get to vote on the new leader. (Sorry Nat members – you remain completely irrelevant – no vote for you – though National is happy to keep taking your money – ka-ching!)”

    hahaha, righto. National members vote national and there are thousands of them. ignore them at your peril. Unlike say Labour, where members are paid lip service and asked to vote, but the unions ignore them and put whoever they want forward.

  13. Mike the Lefty 13
    7 December 2016 at 1:54 pm

    the National list MPs will actually have something vital to do for once. Makes a change from sitting on the backbenches asking patsy questions to their ministers and making ultra rehearsed cheer leading speeches.

  14. Matthew Whitehead 14
    7 December 2016 at 2:08 pm

    So, if you do get any takers, here’s a proposed question:

    Q: Do you have a different vision of climate change policy than John Key? Our current policy settings seem to be encouraging an increase of emissions, not a decrease. How would you change that?

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