2020 election: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Labor Deputy Prime Minister will be deputy leader, but is that Kelvin Davis?

LAST CHOICE
• Caucus meetings today are held in a mix of sweet and sour meetings.
• Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the media after the Labor caucus that the deputy leader of the party would be the deputy prime minister.
• When they arrived in Parliament this morning, surviving and outgoing national MPs blamed an email leak for the election result.
• National Day of Reckoning: Collins warns the coup plotters
• Australians strike back after columnist column against Jacinda Ardern
• Political summary: the euphoria of the left meets reality
• Full party vote and data electorate by electorate

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the deputy prime minister will be the deputy leader of the party, but who holds that position depends on the group.

He is currently Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis, but it is unclear whether he wants to remain in the post, as his performance in office has often come under attack from the opposition.

Labor and National are holding their caucuses today in what will be a mix of sweet and sour meetings.

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This morning, Ardern said he had no intention of removing Davis from deputy leadership, but ultimately, that would be a caucus decision.

“As far as the deputy leadership within the Labor Party is concerned, I don’t intend to change that. However, the entire function assignment that I will be working on for the next two weeks is up for a vote with our caucus.”

Entering the caucus this morning, Davis told reporters that he had had conversations with Ardern but did not reveal any details.

“No decisions on roles and responsibilities have yet been made.”

When asked if he was up against Grant Robertson for the job, he said, “I’m not against anyone.”

Responding to questions about the likely re-entry of the Maori Party into Parliament,

Davis said it had to be seen in perspective.

“They got 1 percent of the votes. Billy TK’s party got 0.9 percent. [Labour] obtained more than 60 percent of the [party vote] on the Maori seats. I just think we have a very strong mandate as a Maori group to go out and make the mahi. “

Ardern and the Labor caucus had a celebratory dinner in Wellington last night and squeezed into their old caucus room, perhaps for the last time.

The caucus is now so large that the billiard room of Parliament is likely to become a new government caucus room.

Ardern said he expected to announce any results of the discussions with the Greens next week, and the following week he would end ministerial positions and await the formal swearing-in process.

He again stressed the mandate given to Labor to rule alone, but did not say whether he had ruled out a formal coalition with the Greens.

“We have a very clear mandate, but … I’m interested in areas of cooperation where we can use the strengths that exist in your team.”

He said that a transformational government is one that creates lasting change rather than one that implements radical changes.

‘Tell us who you are so we can kick you out’

The National caucus will be a grim affair this morning as retiring MPs and those who lost seats in Parliament gather for the traditional silver platter ceremony – each will receive one.

Surviving and outgoing MPs have started arriving in Parliament this morning with many blaming an email leak for the election result.

An email from MP Denise Lee to the rest of the caucus objected to party leader Judith Collins’ decision to announce an Auckland Council review, and was leaked to a news outlet.

Collins has said the leak cost them about five points in polls.

Northland MP Matt King urged the leaker to “stand up.”

“Tell us who you are, so we can kick you out.”

He said the leak had definitely been a factor in National’s result, but it wasn’t the only reason.

He said he had to give Labor credit for its result. “We have to recognize that. It was a decisive victory.”

He was also nervous about sticking to his own Northland headquarters, saying it was “on the razor’s edge” and that special votes generally favored Labor. She is currently just 729 votes ahead of Labor’s Willow Jean Prime, and she will not return to the list if she does not occupy the seat.

The government could be formed and take office before the final results are declared on November 6.

Labor and green conversations

Yesterday, Ardern held talks at The Beehive with Green Party co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson, but he is not believed to have given them any hope of governing in coalition.

Ardern and his chief of staff, Rajesh Nahna, met with Shaw, Davidson and the Green Party chief of staff, Tory Whanau, in preliminary talks.

The goal was to talk about future talks, rather than start negotiations.

There is clear resistance within the Labor Party to enter into any power-sharing agreement, which involves the coalition government, when the clear mandate from Saturday’s elections was for a Labor government.

Neither Ardern nor Shaw commented yesterday, but Shaw has repeatedly made clear that the party’s preference was the total coalition, as recently as last week in an interview with the Herald.

“Obviously, it depends on the numbers and the deal,” Shaw said. “We want to keep the other options on the table but obviously the option that has the most influence is the coalition.

But in his speeches, since the election result was clear, Ardern has repeatedly referenced former National supporters who may have voted for Labor for the first time and the term Labor had won.

Ironically, some of those who switched may have been indirectly encouraged by national leader Judith Collins in the final days of the campaign with her repeated warnings about a Green Party wealth tax.

Some national voters may have thought that was much less likely if Labor didn’t need the Greens in a coalition.

Ardern has said he wants to speed up the labor policy program.

Any major political decision in the last government required the support of all three parties, Labor and New Zealand First in coalition, and the Greens, who had a trust and supply deal with Labor and three ministerial posts outside of Cabinet.

But there are several other arrangements through which the Greens could win political concessions, present budget proposals, and have influence throughout the government’s term, even if the coalition is off the table.

It may or may not involve green deputies as ministers.

Formal talks between Labor and the Greens are expected to start later in the week or even the next.

With New Zealand out of government and parliament first, Ardern can afford to promote six more Labor MPs to form a cabinet of 20.

Labor won an outright majority Saturday night with 49.1 percent of 64 MPs out of 120, 18 more than in the last election and 22 new MPs in total, including some replacing retired MPs.

7.6 percent of the Greens give him 10 deputies, two more.

Yesterday new Members of Parliament began to arrive.