Will Collins make a move?

Written By: - Date published: 9:52 am, March 7th, 2017 - 40 comments
Categories: Judith Collins, leadership, national - Tags: ,

The crisis around English’s amateur-hour handling of the super announcement is an opportunity for Judith Collins. Pretty much the last one, after this it will be too late to change leaders before the election. The Collins surrogate blog is raining down the hate on English, and the timing will never be better. Do Nats want English to lead them to his second historic defeat? Will Collins make a move?

40 comments on “Will Collins make a move? ”

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  1. Undecided 1
    7 March 2017 at 10:26 am

    Nice attempt at fomenting rumours 🙂 but Jude’ll wait to see how the election is going to play out first

  2. Rightly or wrongly 2
    7 March 2017 at 10:39 am

    I don’t see Collins moving any time soon.

    It would be flipping the birdie at their Caucus 4 months after the Caucus chose English.

    Also Poll numbers and the economy are all on English’s side.

    However English is doing everything he can to alienate his support.

    – UN resolution aggravated tribal Nats
    – Super announcement – likely to push older voters more to Winnie and Labour that ever before.

    The one thing English lacks that Key had is an ability to sniff which way Political winds were blowing before there was any movement.

    Key mostly always appeared to be on top of every political movement which gave an appearance of competence.

    English is more of a follower of events – he would prefer to have his head stuck in a treasury wonk manual than reading political tea leaves.

    This is his weakness and Labour would do well to exploit it subtly.

    As the nats have pushed Little’s perceived issues with ‘anger’ Labour could do well to attack English for fillfulling the old proverb about the blind leading the blind.

    Perhaps an attack tv ad showing English/Joyce/Bennett as the 3 blind mice

    • Phil 2.1
      7 March 2017 at 11:27 am

      Super announcement – likely to push older voters more to Winnie and Labour that ever before.

      Why? If you’re already “old” the announced changes have literally no effect on your superannuation package.

      • Ben Clark 2.1.1
        7 March 2017 at 11:41 am

        Didn’t matter in 2011 – campaigning on it for Labour, pensioners / those in their 50s who would be personally unaffected still saw it as something to vote against as affecting “their” pension.

        • Enough is Enough 2.1.1.1
          7 March 2017 at 12:02 pm

          What is your view on it now Ben?

        • Ross 2.1.1.2
          7 March 2017 at 7:20 pm

          Ben,

          You’re suggesting that Labour didn’t win in 2011 because of its Super policy. I’m not sure that is true. National had only served one term by that stage. It always seemed likely they’d serve more than one term.

          Labour’s policy of 2014 would’ve resulted in changes to Super in 2020, much sooner than what was announced yesterday. That might’ve been a factor in Labour’s defeat but it’s hard to say how much effect it had.

      • Grantoc 2.1.2
        8 March 2017 at 4:02 pm

        I agree Phil.

        The proposed changes have no impact on older voters in terms of losses and gains. The proposal is neutral from their point of view.

    • michelle 2.2
      7 March 2017 at 2:48 pm

      I don’t think these mice are just blind I think they are also deaf and dumb cause they don’t listen

  3. james 3
    7 March 2017 at 11:27 am

    Not a hope Im afraid.

    Good effort – but this isnt going to get any traction, nor is it going to happen.

    Greater chance of Adern out polling Little, and a leadership change in labour.

    • Red 3.1
      7 March 2017 at 11:33 am

      Yep odds on Arden moves first and Collins not at all

      • marty mars 3.1.1
        7 March 2017 at 11:59 am

        Um no sorry righties – Collins is right behind bill and he can already feel a little prick as the sharpened stick starts sliding in – the Collins twist will really hurt bill as Jude and Paula team up.

        • Phil 3.1.1.1
          7 March 2017 at 6:56 pm

          This honestly sounds far more like some kind of ‘shipper or slashfic than coherent political analysis.

          Try harder.

    • North 3.2
      7 March 2017 at 8:02 pm

      Yeah well “Angry Andy” didn’t catch on did it ? That’ll be a substantial rebate from Crosby Textor then and rightly so. It was always a piss construct.

      National is a cabinet/caucus beset actually. For manifold reasons. The ever present Judith number is a bit of a straw against confidence and no queazy tummies.

      They really should harden up though. Imagine being one of the third of US senators facing re-election in less than 2 years. And the whole of the House of Representatives. For all we know we might have “Fake Constitution !” soon.

      • james 3.2.1
        8 March 2017 at 1:03 pm

        “Yeah well “Angry Andy” didn’t catch on did it ?”

        yeah it did.

  4. The decrypter 4
    7 March 2017 at 11:41 am

    English is hoping and praying she will make a move. When she does -woosh, he’ll be off, in a cloud of dust just like key. Off, like a robbers dog.

  5. Enough is Enough 5
    7 March 2017 at 12:01 pm

    Yeah – Nah

    Other than Cameron Slater she doesn’t have a friend in National.

    Hopefully she disappears after the election so this country never has to endure her near the controls of power.

  6. AB 6
    7 March 2017 at 12:13 pm

    She won’t move – she’s watching the polls and watching for any more missteps by miserable, punitive, dry as dust, anti-human, ex-Treasury Bill.
    It will take something really big for her to move before the election – because by far the best scenario for her is for Bill to lose narrowly in September and then fall on his sword.
    But the contrary factor is how panicked the Nat grandees become if they fear losing in September, because they will not tolerate the loss of even one iota of their wealth, privilege and power. Could they persuade her to act rashly with a quiet word in her ear- “Judith we know Bill’s not up to it and you have our full support. No need to worry about election funding…”
    Though even this scenario is less likely that an extremely well-funded and extremely dirty campaign to get Bill across the line. Maybe another hatchet job on Winston similar to 2008 or another fictitious Donghua Liu-style smear on Labour?

  7. fisiani 7
    7 March 2017 at 12:20 pm

    Really scraping the barrel now. Bill English has handled the superannuation issue superbly. English will win easily in September. The real story is who will be the Labour leader in September? My money is on Jacinda in early September and someone else late September.

    • Robert Guyton 7.1
      7 March 2017 at 2:28 pm

      “Really scraping the barrel now”
      Fisiani’s Freudian comment on a post about Judith Collins and Bill English.

    • the pigman 7.2
      7 March 2017 at 7:29 pm

      … and the American invaders are committing suicide at the gates of Baghdad, yes, yes, fizzy we know.

  8. Tamati Tautuhi 8
    7 March 2017 at 12:26 pm

    Collins will be licking her chops and poking pins in her Bill English voodoo doll.

    • AB 8.1
      7 March 2017 at 6:50 pm

      The Bill English voodoo doll is made of granite. It has the hard purity of a neoliberal Treasury robot, like Don Brash without the goofy weirdness.
      Pins don’t work on them. You have to bury them deeper than Oravida swamp kauri and leave them in peaty water (pH < 5) for 8 million years before a pin can get in.

  9. Stuff The Politicians 9
    7 March 2017 at 1:04 pm

    Only person who like Collins is herself.
    She is a totally awful person who would be unelectable as a leader.

    There is something about the female brigade of this Government, all tarred with the same brush it would seem.

    And all very up themselves.

    • Robert Glennie 9.1
      7 March 2017 at 1:14 pm

      Amy Adams – I’ve met her face to face at an event in Christchurch – will give you a fair hearing. Unfortunately for non-National supporters, she is good enough that she will get re-elected in Selwyn.

      • AB 9.1.1
        7 March 2017 at 1:50 pm

        Hon Amy Adams (National, Selwyn)

        1 Company directorships and controlling interests
        Amdon Farms Limited – farming
        Amdon Investments Limited – holding company

        4 Beneficial interests in, and trusteeships of, trusts
        Montford Trust (trustee and beneficiary)
        Hampton Downs Trust (trustee and beneficiary)

        6 Real property
        Farm property (owned by trust), Aylesbury
        Bare land (owned by trust), Darfield
        Bare land (owned by trust), Te Kauwhata
        Commercial property (owned by trust), Templeton
        Commercial property (owned by trust), Temuka
        Vacant section (owned by trust), Cromwell
        Residential property (owned by trust), West Melton

        From the 2016 Register of pecuniary interests.
        At a guess she and her immediate family are unlikely to be troubled by an increase in the entitlement age for superannuation.

    • red-blooded 9.2
      7 March 2017 at 10:31 pm

      “There is something about the female brigade of this Government, all tarred with the same brush it would seem.”

      I think this government is pretty bloody awful, but I take exception to this comment:
      1) Are the women really worse than the men? what about Joyce? Brownlee? English himself? Arrogant, imperious, lacking in empathy, manipulative… Perhaps you notice and resent the women more. If so, it could well be because you see women in power as somehow unnatural. I feel like there’s some kind of (unconcious) gender bias showing through here.
      2) “Tarred with the same brush”? Really? Doesn’t this expression imply there’s something wrong with being black? I guess it could be linked to being “tarred and feathered” (also a horrible connotation), but its usual meaning is “blackened” as a metaphor for being dirtied.

      Sorry if this seems picky, but these issues stood out for me.

  10. mosa 10
    7 March 2017 at 2:33 pm

    Enough people thought the sun shone out of John Keys backside and he was a corrupt ,lying shyster and they voted for him three times.

    The Hon Judith Collins was thoroughly disgraced over dirty politics and Oravida that means she is a sure bet to eventually step up to the leadership with her outstanding pedigree to do the job and be a superb PM.

    Seems a lot of NZ voters love their National government leaders to be as crooked as a hind dogs leg and complete masochists in order to get their vote.

    I recon given the chance they would have re elected Nixon after revelations of the illegal crimes of Watergate and the cover up that were made public.

    Clearly a lot of kiwis are deaf , mad and blind it would seem.

    • Red 10.1
      7 March 2017 at 5:58 pm

      And if you want to lead labour just make sure you have paid your union dues

      • mosa 10.1.1
        7 March 2017 at 6:20 pm

        Red , i am always paid up and the next leader wont be me ,but a number of contributors to this site might want to give it a go.

    • Pete 10.2
      8 March 2017 at 9:09 am

      Judith Collins wasn’t thoroughly disgraced in the eyes of many over dirty politics and Oravida, because a lot of kiwis are deaf, mad and blind.

      They accept her lack of morality and that’s why she is still in the hunt. No person though deserves the bitterness of loss more than her so here’s to anyone else being ahead of her, leaving her to wallow in rejection.

  11. Infused 11
    7 March 2017 at 4:29 pm

    lol. you’re dreaming. this isn’t labour.

  12. the pigman 12
    7 March 2017 at 7:25 pm

    The post would be better to provide some context.

    Collins has busily been reinventing herself since her embarrassing leadership tilt.

    She has been keeping her head down and has had the full hair, wardrobe and make-up makeover. She’s been shaking hands with ethnic community groups, spearheading an enquiry into petrol prices and has just rolled out the (basically unreported) crackdown on tax avoidance measures. I’m pretty sure both those enquiries amount to nothing, but that’s beside the point.

    Her and the oily one (mistakenly!) believe that this might make her more likeable to the electorate after Mr. Bungle fucks the nats at the polls a second time. Personally, I would love to see her and Bennett take over the parliamentary national party but sadly Boag and her allies in the boardroom are more likely to retain control.

  13. Thinkerr 13
    7 March 2017 at 9:31 pm

    IMHO:

    In politics you don’t chase the money. You do what you have to to build respect, and the baubles look after themselves. So:

    If JC rolled English, the baubles of office might be hers in mere months. BUT, if National loses in 2017 that’s a lot of respect lost. JC would be blamed, not English.

    However, if English is at the helm and National loses, JC can ride in on the white horse, respected and admired.

    If that happened, I’d suspect Paula’s days as deputy would be numbered. More likely the gender balance would be maintained, and I’d put my money on Simon Bridges instead.

    Then, that leaves 3 years to build the party machinery around the new structure.

    To do it now would be risky & folly. Time’s too short.

  14. Jenny Kirk 14
    7 March 2017 at 9:34 pm

    I can’t see this happening at all. I agree Collins is looking at leadership eventually but right now English and the Nats are doing okay in the polls, and she won’t spoil that.
    She’ll wait until the Nats go down,down, down.
    This business with the superannuation age is not going to affect the Nat constituency one little bit, nor the golden oldies for another 20 years. It hits the younger generations and the Nats don’t care about them, because few of them vote.

  15. Fisiani 15
    8 March 2017 at 8:36 am

    The bigger story is that Chicken can be rolled in the months before the election without union input. Watch Grant Robertson

  16. Robert Guyton 16
    8 March 2017 at 8:49 am

    The lesser/least story, is Fisiani’s feeble attempts to divert our attention to his dishwater-weak fantasy about Andrew Little.

  17. marious 17
    8 March 2017 at 7:48 pm

    Had national allowed labour’s 1975 super sceem to remain super would be well on the way to being self funding now. Imagine having 11b to put into other things such as health this year and increasing every year from here on in. National have blown it they went on to water down kiwi saver under Key and have stopped making contributions.
    English has every right to be worried about National super and an impending second thrashing at the polls.

  18. Marcus Morris 18
    8 March 2017 at 10:28 pm

    Muldoon’s worst legacy is National Superannuation. 1975 was a black year in our political and social history. More than forty years on and Superannuation is still a political football. Michael Cullen did his best to bring certainty and stability but the Nat’s put paid to that as soon as they had the chance. The worst part of this sorry saga is to understand that, in their lust for power, National party strategists knew BEFORE the 1975 election that their scheme was unsustainable. Read former Cabinet Minister Hugh Templeton’s book “All Honourable Men”. He makes that point very clear.

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