The Prime Minister Christopher Luxon refused to speak to reporters as he made his way through Wellington Airport ahead of an urgent caucus meeting on Wednesday.
His grip on National’s leadership has come under scrutiny again after a series of missteps and clashes with coalition partners, including calling for an MMP referendum.
Former National MP on Luxon leadership speculation
Checkpoint
Caucus rumblings of rolling Luxon resurfaced in reporting by the New Zealand Herald on Monday evening, and by Tuesday afternoon Luxon had decided to call the urgent in-person meeting for Wednesday morning.
“It is my firm belief that division and disunity are a major distraction only 90 days out from the election,” he wrote.
The issue needed to be resolved quickly, he said.
Stepping off the plane in Wellington on Tuesday afternoon, Luxon told reporters, “talk to you tomorrow … take care team”.
Senior MP Erica Stanford, who’s tipped to be a possible contender for the leadership, did not say a word to reporters as she arrived in Wellington.
Asked whether she had confidence in Luxon, Stanford did not reply.
National MPs were mostly keeping quiet on the matter, and had cleared their diaries on Wednesday morning – including the party’s deputy Nicola Willis and third-ranked MP Chris Bishop both cancelling interview slots scheduled with RNZ’s Morning Report.
Bishop, who is often tipped as a leadership contender, had two scheduled media events on Tuesday and faced questions about Luxon at both.
He threw his full support behind his leader and warned colleagues against leaking to media.
Asked again about the leadership at the second event, Bishop told reporters there was no update.
“Mate, we were just down the road in South Auckland 90 minutes ago,” he said.
He then gave a running commentary about what had happened in those 90 minutes, including getting a coffee, preparing for his next speech and calling his wife.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown was with Bishop at the second event, standing beside him as they both took questions. Brown was asked if he wanted Bishop to be Prime Minister.
“Now there’s a tricky question,” Brown responded, chuckling.
Brown said Bishop was a “good bloke” but had a bit of competition for the National leadership, including from Defence Minister Chris Penk.
National’s Chris Bishop. (File photo)
RNZ / Mark Papalii
Penk had also been at the event, but did not stick around for the standup.
Brown said what he would really like was for the New Zealand public to choose the prime minister “instead of Winston Peters doing it.”
Penk later offered his support for Luxon, saying he was working hard for New Zealanders.
“I’ve always expressed confidence in the leader, now is no different.”
Mark Mitchell – who is being floated as a possible new deputy, if there is a leadership change – ruled out a run at the deputy role.
He said he had 100 percent confidence in his leader and would “of course” support Luxon if it came to a vote.
“I’m old fashioned, very loyal,” Mitchell said.
“I don’t support any leaking, I think it’s destabilising for any party.”
Another leadership contender, party deputy Nicola Willis, said she had confidence in Luxon.
“We’ll have more to say tomorrow … I’ve got nothing more to add,” she said.
Bishop did not answer questions directly, telling reporters he’d had a big day – proceeding to list each event he attended in Auckland – and said he was going home to his wife and children.
National Party president Sylvia Wood told reporters she and the board backed Luxon.
Asked whether she supported his call to hold a caucus meeting, Wood said: “I’m very happy to have the meeting, and that’s it … I have nothing further to say.”
The party’s chief whip Stuart Smith and senior MP Gerry Brownlee would not comment.
Smith was asked whether caucus colleagues had written to him to express disapproval of Luxon’s role as leader, whether there was any suggestion of a challenge, and whether he had confidence in the Prime Minister.
“I have nothing to say on that matter,” Smith said repeatedly.
National’s James Meager told RNZ said he “absolutely” had confidence in Luxon.
“The media can interview themselves all they like about that, but its not anything we’re interested in.”
Meager suggested not trusting everything in the media, and referenced being quoted in the Herald in November “making claims about things about me that were entirely untrue, which have been repeated throughout the media despite the fact them not being true.”
It had been reported that Meager was canvassing support for Bishop to take over as leader.
“It’s false, and I denied it,” Meager said.
“I’m not really interested in people’s views on speculation about any of that sort of stuff, because as far as I’m concerned, it’s nonsense.”
He said he’d had no conversations with his fellow MPs about a change in leadership in recent days.
Senior MP Todd McClay also said he was behind Luxon.
“He’s doing a good job, he’s an excellent Prime Minister, he has my one hundred percent support.”
National MPs front media at Wellington Airport
Arriving at Wellington Airport on Tuesday afternoon, National MP Scott Simpson told reporters he “absolutely” had confidence in the Prime Minister.
He would not speculate about whether a confidence vote would be held during Wednesday’s meeting.
“I’ve never talked about caucus matters until now, and I’m not going to start today.”
Asked whether Luxon would still be the Prime Minister in 24 hours, Paul Goldsmith said “yeah, I imagine so”.
He would support Luxon if there was confidence vote on Wednesday, “but I’m not sure that there will be,” Goldsmith said.
Southland MP Joseph Mooney said he supported his leader, and no other contenders had requested his backing.
“Any discussions will be in that caucus room, if there are any discussions to be had,” he said.
“I don’t have any reason to think there’s gonna be a call for a vote tomorrow.”
Mooney said Luxon had himself acknowledged the “challenges” he’d faced in the past week.
Hawke’s Bay-based MPs Katie Nimon and Catherine Wedd also said they “absolutely” had confidence in Luxon.
“We are just happy to get back to our electorates, as fast as possible, get back to the mighty Hawke’s Bay and focus on the people of Hawke’s Bay … and the things that matter,” Wedd said.
“That’s right,” said Nimon.
Wedd would not confirm whether she would give Luxon her vote if one was held.
“We don’t talk about what happens in caucus… we’re 100 percent behind the Prime Minister, and we’re 100 percent behind our caucus leadership.”
McClay again expressed his confidence in the prime minister.
“I have absolutely nothing else to say.”
Asked whether he would vote for Luxon, McClay replied “that would fall in the ‘nothing else to say’.”
Waikato MP Tim van de Molen would not say whether he supported Luxon.
“I’m confident that National will be leading the government after the election.”
However Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford confirmed he would vote for Luxon, and believed his colleagues would too.
“I’m confident that we’re gonna have the full support of caucus for the Prime Minister, he’s doing a fantastic job,” he said.
Rutherford said no one had contacted him about a leadership challenge.
National in disarray – Hipkins
But Labour leader Chris Hipkins said National was in complete disarray.
“I think the fact that they’re not willing to express confidence in the prime minister speaks volumes about them and the state that they’re in at the moment,” he said.
Hipkins said New Zealanders were focused on the cost of living, rising unemployment, and supporting small businesses while the National Party was focused on their own jobs and fighting among themselves.
He said he would take on whoever the leader may be, if a new one emerged.
“It would be the seventh leader in 10 years. Who knows when the revolving door would end?” he said.
“And that, of course, is one of the things that New Zealanders will face this coming election … if they choose to vote for the National Party, they don’t know who they’re voting for.”
Labour’s deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni would not speculate but said: “clearly they’re not performing very well and there’s unrest in the National party caucus – hence why they’re meeting.”
Sepuloni said disunity or ruptures in the National party caucus was not an issue for Labour.
ACT leader David Seymour said he enjoyed working with Luxon and speculation about his coalition partner’s leadership was a matter for the National Party.