{"id":384969,"date":"2026-04-17T23:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T23:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/384969\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T23:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T23:47:10","slug":"transport-minister-chris-bishop-brushes-off-leadership-bid-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/384969\/","title":{"rendered":"Transport Minister Chris Bishop brushes off leadership bid questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe Transport Minister Chris Bishop is playing down political pressure following recent poll results, insisting he remains focused on the job and confident in the Prime Minister.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Penny Smith\n<\/p>\n

The Transport Minister Chris Bishop is playing down political pressure following recent poll results, insisting that he remains focused on the job and confident in the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

Touted as a potential contender for the National Party’s top job amid speculation about Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s job security<\/a>, Bishop batted down questions of a potential leadership bid.<\/p>\n

Bishop also brushed off questions about his marginal Hutt South seat, and said he’s “head down” working for constituents, and will campaign on his record and future plans.<\/p>\n

When asked directly, he confirmed he has confidence in the Prime Minister, declining to discuss private conversations but stressing they are in regular contact.<\/p>\n

“Look, I’m just head down, bum up on my portfolios and also working hard locally as well.”<\/p>\n

“I’ve got a good track record as a local MP, and I’ll be running on that record and also running on my and the government’s plans for the future.”<\/p>\n

“You know, Hutt South has always been a closer venture. It always will be. It’s what they call a marginal seat.<\/p>\n

“All I can do is put my best foot forward, run on my record, and run on future plans.<\/p>\n

“The Prime Minister and I talk all the time… but I’m not going to get into what I’ve said to him or what he’s said to me recently.”<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Transport Minister Chris Bishop is playing down political pressure following recent poll results, insisting he remains focused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-384969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}