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National Party leader Judith Collins says she nearly rejected the party’s leadership when asked.
In a brutal assessment of National’s electoral defeat at the Victoria University post-election conference, Collins began by talking about his rise to leadership after Todd Muller’s resignation, months after he had cast Simon Bridges for the role.
Collins said she was called the night before Muller’s resignation and asked if she would take the job.
“My first reaction was: no. My second reaction was: why, ”Collins said.
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“I wouldn’t describe it as a poisoned chalice, but it wasn’t a golden ticket.”
Collins says her husband agreed that she shouldn’t do it, but she decided to fall asleep and woke up believing she could still help National win the election if things went well.
Iain McGregor / Stuff
National Party leader Judith Collins said she almost said no to the party leadership.
“I am optimistic. And I really believed that we could still win the election if things went our way, “Collins said.
He went on to give a very negative narrative of the National Party campaign, blaming the loss on the party’s fiscal hole, the campaign team, and the issues he inherited from Muller, and the disunity within his party.
Collins says he kept the campaign team he inherited from Muller, even though they “hadn’t worked together,” adding a few people of his own.
He said National couldn’t get traction on his campaign issues related to the economy.
“I inherited the campaign themes established by Todd Muller. We never really managed to attract anything with the key themes of our campaign. “
The multi-million dollar hole in the party’s fiscal plan made a “significant dent in our economic credibility.”
“In a complete role reversal starting in 2017, we were experiencing significant media pressure on our numbers,” Collins said.
“Even though our fiscal plan had been independently evaluated and endorsed, we were unable to counter the fiscal hole narrative.”
He also blamed leaks and scandals like the Hamish Walker and Andrew Falloon affairs.
Collins said the leak of an email from national MP Denise Lee complaining about the party’s culture “erased” her party’s housing policy announcement as it was all the media wanted to talk about.
“The destabilization of this leak was a severe blow to the National Party from which we never recovered.”
Collins said there were parts of the campaign that went well, but were generally discovered by the media.
National won about 400,000 fewer votes in 2020 than in 2017, won 23 fewer seats, and Labor won the first MMP (mixed-membership proportional) majority in history.
