2020 Election: National’s Gerry Brownlee Resigns; endorse Collins to remain leader

National’s campaign chairman and senior deputy, Gerry Brownlee, is leaving Parliament for good after losing his seat in Ilam last night.

He has also endorsed frontman Judith Collins to remain in the top job, saying that rolling her would be “totally wrong” at this point.

Rodney’s MP Mark Mitchell, whose name has been cited as a potential leadership contender, agrees.

But speaking to Q&A this morning, he “absolutely” ruled out challenging Collins for leadership.

“That is not on the table; it is the furthest thing from my mind.”

Brownlee put on a brave face this morning after his party suffered the second worst electoral defeat in its history.

At 49.1 percent, Labor won enough seats to rule alone. National won only 26.8 percent, which means 20 MPs will lose their jobs.

Brownlee admitted that the Labor victory was a “historic victory” and was “a little disappointed”.

“We have had a shocking year, we have had a surprise,” he said.

Brownlee took office as campaign chairman in July and has been a national representative for nearly 25 years.

He entered Parliament in 1996, won the Ilam seat in Christchurch and has held it ever since.

But last night he lost it by more than 2,000 votes.

When asked about his future this morning, he said it was something to think about for the next few days.

“I’m going to think about things for the next few days.”

He believes Collins should remain the leader and said he had expressed a desire to “stay.”

“At the moment, Judith Collins is the leader of the National Party and has the support of the caucus.”

He said Collins performed “incredibly well under great pressure.”

Brownlee said it had been a difficult season for his party and that National would now have an internal review.

And he addressed his own mistakes throughout the campaign, including his comments on “an interesting series of facts.”

In August, when asked about the Health Ministry’s face mask guidelines, she said it was “interesting” that the rules came after Ardern visited a mask factory and CEO of Health Ashley Bloomfield was tested for Covid-19.

When asked about those comments this morning, Brownlee said it was a “big mistake on my part.”

“It wasn’t really intended; I was being a little frivolous, it shouldn’t have happened.”