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Gerry Brownlee will resign as deputy leader of the National Party next week.
Brownlee had only been in office since leader Judith Collins took office in July, following the brief leadership of Todd Muller. He was also the party’s campaign chairman, having taken on that role from Paula Bennett during Muller’s leadership.
He also lost his seat in the most recent election, which he had held since 1996.
Brownlee said he wanted to work on rebuilding the National Party base in Christchurch, where he currently has no urban constituencies and where he is the only MP.
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JOSEPH JOHNSON / Things
Gerry Brownlee has resigned as deputy leader of the National Party
“My focus, going forward, will be to rebuild National’s base in Christchurch and represent our voters there,” Brownlee said.
In the 2017 elections, the party won Ilam’s electorate in Christchurch, but MPs Jo Hayes, Nikki Wagner and Nuk Korako from Christchurch entered Parliament on the list, all of whom have already left Parliament.
National will have a caucus meeting on Tuesday of next week. The party constitution means that the caucus is required to take a vote of confidence in the leadership. Brownlee said he would not seek reelection at that meeting.
“For the past few weeks, the National Party has been reflecting on how the Parliamentary Caucus can better fulfill its responsibilities to Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition,” Brownlee said.
It has been a difficult day for National. The final election results have seen the party lose two MPs, Denise Lee and Matt King.
“Today, with the release of the special vote count, we have our final figures. Our smallest team of 33 is now ready to focus on the work ahead.
“In July I assumed the role of deputy leader of the National Party to support Judith as our leader. I firmly believe that Judith ran an extremely good campaign in what was an unprecedented election.
“While I was proud to intervene at the time, and still am, I’ve always believed that influence is more important than position when it comes to politics,” Brownlee said.
