Sir John Key on Peter Goodfellow’s ‘media bias’ against National: ‘Only we are to blame’

Sir John Key says the National Party needs to “look in the mirror” rather than blame the media or anyone else for its unfortunate election result.

His comments follow Peter Goodfellow’s speech at National’s AGM yesterday, when the party chairman criticized what he saw as “clickbait” and biased media.

Goodfellow also described Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as a “famous” leader, her response to Covid-19 as a “temporary tyranny” and her regular Covid-19 updates as “televangelic” addresses to the nation.

Last night, the party board voted for Goodfellow, the party’s longest-serving chairman, to continue in office.

This morning, Key told Newstalk ZB that the party leadership team needed to criticize Goodfellow’s speech, if they wished.

But he added: “If we blame the media or we are going to blame other people, we are going to forget to look in the mirror and we have to take responsibility.

“If we don’t learn from it, we will just repeat those mistakes and not move on. The reality is that you probably learn more from your mistakes than from your victories. If the All Blacks don’t go ahead and watch some tapes of their game as of late. They will repeat their mistakes. “

Key acknowledged that the Covid-19 pandemic gave the government an “unprecedented” platform to communicate with the country.

“But we have to take responsibility for our own actions. We fail in a number of different ways, from leadership changes to leaks and disunity. All of them are punished very harshly by an electorate.

“If we want to be foolish enough to continue the kind of games that have been played recently, then [media] we are going to report them and we are only to blame.

Despite that, he endorsed Goodfellow in the role of president, saying he had done “a tremendous job” in raising funds for the party.

“He is a very effective president, in my opinion.”

Party leader Judith Collins, when asked about Goodfellow’s speech yesterday, said: “I think the president made an excellent speech, it is one that I think he contributed very well to the party’s AGM.”

Key also backed Collins, saying she was a hard worker who became a leader in difficult circumstances.

“I don’t think it would have mattered too much who became the leader of the National Party 16 weeks before the elections.

“It was a very difficult position. It is unlikely that someone would have taken the reins and won at that time.”

He said the party had to win back the 413,800 voters it had lost since 2017 by differentiating itself from the government and convincing voters that it not only had a good plan, but could execute it.

“There are a lot of New Zealanders who may not want the government and they don’t want billions of dollars to be borrowed and they don’t want additional taxes and regulations.”

But he had a caveat for National.

“You can underestimate Jacinda Ardern, but you do it at your own risk. She will communicate firmly. They have all the levers of the Government. They are not ashamed to spend money and throw it at some of those Labor voters for the first time.

“It is not going to be an easy government to topple.”