A new leader for National Party?

Last week Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made the absurd off-the-cuff announcement that he would support a referendum on the M.M.P. electoral system that New Zealand uses. After days of strong push-back, National are having an urgent meeting today to settle the matter.

There are several potential candidates for taking over his position:

• Chris Bishop – one of the most senior M.P.’s in the National Party, No. 3 on the party list and
• Nicola Willis – No. 2 on the National Party list, Minister of Finance and one who was described by Andrea Vance in Blue Blood as “deeply tactical”
• Erica Stanford – Minister for Education, one of the few Ministers with respect from other parties and No. 5 on the National Party list
• Paul Goldsmith – Minister for Treaty Negotiations, Minister for Justice

Christopher Bishop may have leadership ambitions, and Newsroom cited him as the biggest threat to Mr Luxon’s Prime Ministership. However, after being burnt by Mr Luxon during the last supposed attempt a changing the leadership of the National Party, he will likely be keeping any thoughts to himself.

Nicola Willis features in the Andrea Vance book “Blue Blood”. It details the time period in the National Party between former Prime Minister John Key and current leader Christopher Luxon. She is the Minister of Finance, and lives in Wellington. Mrs Willis is not standing on the list, as she is assured of her place in Parliament. A Minister of Finance, who has botched the replacement of the Cook Strait ferries, dragged New Zealand billions of dollars further into the very debt she said we needed to avoid, does not sound appealing.

Paul Goldsmith has three things counting against him. His hubris is one. He has a cold approach that I think will turn a lot of people looking for a personable leader that they can identify with, off. Former Prime Minister John Key was one I thought that many New Zealanders could have a beer with, even if they completely hated his politics because of his more blokey, down-to-earth approach. The third is, that to progress Treaty of Waitangi issues, one must have respect for the Waitangi Tribunal and its processes. Mr Goldsmith appears not to.

There is another M.P., and that is Simeon Brown. He is Minister of Health. I did not include him because I believe that he is a Chris Luxon supporter, and probably not going to support any effort to roll him. Many on the left view him as smarmy and out of touch with the health system.

It is Erica Stanford who interests me the most. Young, capable, with some respect from the Opposition Parties on the matter of education, and having tried to engage victims of state abuse, her integrity seems to be the most intact. But how many people on the street would actually know Ms Stanford, outside of political nerds, and those who follow the news:

Sorry. Erica who?