Speaking on Monday, Luxon said the poll results had been raised \u201cin passing\u201d during conversations with MPs over the weekend. <\/p>\n
\u201cI talk to my ministers and MPs all the time. In passing, I talked about the poll result. I talked about lots of other things,\u201d Luxon said, stressing \u201cit hasn\u2019t been a major focus\u201d. <\/p>\n
He acknowledged the difficulty of last week, which included his now-infamous comment suggesting \u201cany action\u201d to stop Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon<\/a> would be a \u201cgood thing\u201d. <\/p>\n The Prime Minister admitted the next day he had misspoken<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is no perfect week in politics,\u201d Luxon said yesterday. <\/p>\n \u201cLast week wasn\u2019t the perfect week. It is not surprising I\u2019d raise that or talk [about] that in passing. But only in passing.\u201d <\/p>\n Luxon said he didn\u2019t expect to hear about the poll results from his MPs at today\u2019s meeting. He said the caucus was \u201cunified\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have got a lot on our caucus agenda. We talk about lots of different things. <\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe have got a pretty straight-up culture inside our team that Nicola [Willis] and I have built since we took over as leaders and we talk about a range of different things.\u201d <\/p>\n His focus was \u201cbuilding a great team and actually getting things delivered and done\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cI am not a career politician. I am not going to have the perfect soundbite. I can reassure you, the one thing I can guarantee you going forward from here, there won\u2019t be perfect soundbites either. <\/p>\n \u201cThat is because I am not a creature of this place and been here 20 years.\u201d <\/p>\n Luxon said some previous prime ministers had been \u201cfantastic communicators but don\u2019t deliver\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cNew Zealanders are over that and they just want me to get on with the job, and that\u2019s what I am doing.\u201d <\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n The Herald revealed on Friday that the National Party had sunk to its lowest <\/a>point on this poll since Luxon took the leadership in late 2021. <\/p>\n The results showed National on 28.4%<\/a>, only a few points higher than its disastrous 25.58% at the 2020 election. <\/p>\n If converted into seats in the House, National would lose 12 seats. At the election, it held 48 but would only get 36 on these poll results. <\/p>\n Luxon\u2019s net favourability had fallen three points to \u201319%, which was behind Labour leader Chris Hipkins on \u20135%. Chris Bishop and Erica Stanford, two National MPs often discussed as replacements for Luxon, were on \u201314% and \u201316% respectively. <\/p>\n As often happens after poll results are released, National MPs entering Parliament today will be met by media, questioning their confidence in the current leader and expectations going forward. <\/p>\n While ministers were at the Beehive on Monday for a Cabinet meeting, most backbench MPs don\u2019t usually arrive until Tuesday morning, before the House sits in the afternoon. Some politicians were around the precinct on Monday for select committee meetings. <\/p>\nThe Prime Minister and Finance Minister fronted a press conference on Monday afternoon. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n