Audrey Young writes about Denise Lee’s brain-fart, which she has now walked back.
What was she thinking? Denise Lee that is, not Judith Collins.
Lee, the National MP for Maungakiekie, may have been entitled to feel annoyed at being left out of the loop over a policy announcement by her leader on Newstalk ZB – that National would review Auckland Council.
But the ill-discipline of Lee to put that sentiment in writing and send it to 50 of her closest colleagues in the heat of an election campaign is mind-boggling.
It was either a case of naiveté or of mischievously hoping it would be leaked to the media, as it was.
It was mind-boggling and incredibly naive of Denise Lee. In a fit of pique, she and her henchman who leaked, ankle tapped the National Party campaign. Denise Lee was clearly played by some bitter losers and as a result her career prospects are now rather dim.
Collins did not fight for the job of leader in July. The caucus went crawling to her when it was out of options.
At least until the election, she deserved discipline – which is not the same as unity – and until the past few days she has had it.[…]
A leader has the prerogative to make captain’s calls during election campaigns.
A leader also has the prerogative to make up responses on the hoof – as she did in the TV3 leaders’ debate.
At least four times she gave responses to Patrick Gower that you won’t find in any National Party policy: getting healthy companies to repay the Covid-19 wage subsidy, reviewing the way Pharmac operates; supporting the policy of free sanitary product in schools, and having one unisex toilet in a school.
Leaders are entitled to give spontaneous responses to questions for which they are later accountable.
The leader is entitled to keep internal polling numbers tightly held – especially during an election campaign.
A leader is entitled to not consult widely but have a tight campaign team through which decisions are made.
Every leader in the National Party – in fact almost every leader that ever lived – promises to consult more but ends up having a small coterie of advisers on whom they rely.
The issue facing the National Party is not whether Collins consulted her Auckland local Government spokeswoman – she didn’t.
It is not whether she made up policy on the hoof – she didn’t but she had the right to.
It is not whether it was good policy – a review of Auckland Council and its Council Controlled Organisations is hardly earth-shattering.
It is whether National MPs understand that ill-discipline in a campaign is electoral death.
The ones moaning about a lack of polling data are the same ones who kept the appalling statistics of the lacklustre performance of Simon Bridges and Paula Bennett a secret from the caucus. Had they known the numbers they would have rolled him months earlier!
They are just bitter losers who would rather see Judith Collins fail than see National win the election.
They are poison and the party would do better without them. They are the last thing National needs as it rebuilds.
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