Christopher Luxon remains the leader of the National Party and the prime minister after surviving the second attempt to oust him this year.
Fronting up to media following a 3.5-hour caucus meeting on Wednesday, Luxon confirmed the party had undertaken a confidence vote.
Emerging from that meeting, Luxon said he had the full confidence of the National Party caucus, before abruptly leaving without answering questions.
“Our caucus is united, and it is determined to win this election,” he said.
“Our focus is on National’s positive plan to fix the basics and to build the future, so that we realise the incredible potential that sits in this country, and that we set it up for our kids and our grandkids.”
He was flanked by senior MPs, including Nicola Willis, Mark Mitchell and Chris Bishop. Standing just behind them was Erica Stanford, who was rumoured to be gunning for the top job.
The confidence vote followed weeks of missteps and clashes, culminating in Luxon calling a meeting on Tuesday afternoon amid speculation he was losing his grip on the leadership.
Luxon said he was going “back to work” before leaving the press conference.
It is the second time Luxon’s leadership has been questioned in the past few months. In April, another 3-hour long caucus meeting saw Luxon retain his leadership of the party.
It has been circulating publicly in recent days that the result of that vote was 27 to 22, in his favour.
The second round of speculation kicked off on Monday night, following an NZ Herald report which said National MPs had spent the day on the phones speaking about a change in management.
On Tuesday afternoon Luxon called all his MPs back to Wellington, stating on social media that there was “increased speculation” about his leadership and the issue needed to be “resolved quickly”.
Soon after that post, National MPs began flocking back to Parliament for the 9:30am meeting on Wednesday.
Rumours surrounding who might be plotting to take the top job swelled. Chris Bishop, Erica Stanford, and Nicola Willis were all being touted as potential new leaders, and then Chris Penk entered the fray as a late contender – which Penk denied on Wednesday morning.
Stanford refused to say whether she had confidence in Luxon on Tuessday night and Wednesday morning, fueling speculation she might attempt to take over leadership of the party.
Speculation over whether Luxon was the right person to lead the party came after weeks of mishaps, an apology to businesses, a record unemployment rate, inter-coalition tension, a surprise MMP referendum proposal and the potential imposition of a trio of new taxes.
See how the day unfolded in our blog below: