As I watched the clip of Luxon giving his 75 second “ I have the full support of Caucus” speech after surviving his second confidence vote in 4 months, I looked at the stoney faces of the ministers standing behind him and thought I was looking at a living Tui’s ad.
How can National possibly continue to maintain it is the party of stable government when its own party is clearly so unsteady?
Surely voters must be thinking - if National MPs are unsure about their Prime Minister, why shouldn’t voters be?
Let’s face it Luxon’s problem since day one has been that Peters and Seymour have run political rings around him, because they understand leverage and Luxon sees himself as a manager ( and not a good one ).
If all this sounds as if I care about this Coalition infighting then let me be clear… I hope it continues. Because the more cracks appear in National’s façade of stability the better will be the chance for parties on the left to win.
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First of all thank you to my paid subscribers who make my public journalism possible. I do appreciate your support.
If you are a Free Subscriber - thank you for following my Substack. My aim is to speak truth to power and give a voice to those who have none.
I would like you to be able to access all my work but I have to make a living and it is only because of the support of my paid subscribers that I can keep going.
It means that now and again I can afford to make a post - like one - free for anyone to read.
Please consider chipping in $10 a month ( less than a cup of coffee a week) . You will not only gain access to my writing, documentaries and podcasts, you will also be able to comment and be connected to a community of concerned and intelligent New Zealanders
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Brilliant Tui ad, Bryan!
I must say though, I’ve been shocked at the ageist, misogynist comments about Sylvia Wood, President of the National Party who appears in the photos of Luxon’s briefest of brief press conference after yesterday’s caucus meetings. Whatever your politics, and I’m not and never have been a National party supporter, I wonder what it is that drives people to make personal comments based on age, gender, appearance and have nothing to do with policies. Sylvia Wood is an accomplished woman who does not deserve these attacks. Such comments and attacks on her have been rife on social media in the past 24 hours and I’m shocked to find such responses to her as an older woman here on this particular substack. Perhaps in these heightened political tensions we can take a bit more time to think about what we really want to achieve and how best to achieve it?
How can a party run a country when it can't even execute a coup?