National’s caucus reshuffle
The deckchairs have been reshuffled. And Chris Luxon is confident that reorganising the pecking order of a deeply dysfunctional caucus will make all the difference.
The winners are:
- The liberal faction. All three of them have received significant boosts, with Nicola Willis being confirmed at number two, Chris Bishop at four and Erica Stanford leaping 18 places to number seven.
- Simon Bridges who shock horror goes to number three and takes over finance. This was not part of the deal that cemented the leadership for Luxon and saw Bridges withdraw. Nosiree there was no deal, there may have been a mutual exchange of promises which both parties then adhered to but this is not a deal.
- Simeon Brown who somehow jumped ten places and takes over Transport. Surely he has not forsaken camp Judith for personal gain?
- Todd Muller who is back in caucus and is now making noises about staying on.
And the losers are:
- Judith Collins who drops 18 positions and loses her coveted Pacific Peoples role to Dr Shane Reti. Talofa Judith.
- Paora Goldsmith whose comprehension and logic fail at the last election has seen him lose the Education spokesperson role.
- Andrew Bayley whose inability to score any points against Grant Robertson has seen him drop 12 positions.
- Todd McClay whose inability to score any points against anyone has seen him drop 15 positions.
- Michael Woodhouse who loses the shadow leader of the house role and drops 14 places. Clare Curran will be grinning from ear to ear.
I am sure that they will settle down and behave, at least until the new year. And I would not be surprised if their polling goes up.
But there is still a sense that the National caucus is a deeply divided mess of contesting egos and factions with a topping of born to rulism to complete the picture. Making them appear to be semi coherent will take all of Luxon’s abilities.