Political Harakiri
The National party must always have known that they were taking a risk when they elected Judith Collins as leader. There were, after all, good reasons why they repeatedly declined to accept her candidature when she offered herself – as she frequently did.
She was always an inappropriate person to lead a political party in a democracy. Her long association with Cameron Slater and her endorsement of his chosen form of political warfare was surely enough to disqualify her.
The chickens have now come home to roost with a vengeance. Her readiness to pull the temple down around her has been amply demonstrated. She has now ruled herself out from any position of responsibility.
But she has done much more than commit (perhaps inadvertent) political harakiri. The excuse she has used to skewer her rival has meant that National has been deprived not only of their leader but of an alternative leader as well. If Simon Bridges’ offence means that he cannot be trusted to remain on National’s front bench, how could National offer him as someone to lead the country?
Politics is a hard business. The pressures it brings to bear on its practitioners in opposition mean that the voters have ample opportunity to judge how well they might handle the challenges they would inevitably face in government. We now have our answer.
1 Comment
I could not doubt the clear assessment of the political situation in New Zealand, but it makes an interesting mirror of the state of play in the UK.
Here, it is the government that provides the “circus”, although the size of the Covid death toll, the continuing devotion to the idea of austerity ( contradicted by the level of spending in response to the pandemic), the callous approach to ordinary people, and the collapse in credibility of Boris Johnson might match the decline and fall of Judith Collins, but sadly, Keir Starmer is no match for Jacinda Ahern. The whole political landscape is currently a shambles.