Summarised by Centrist
Chris Bishop went into Christopher Luxon’s reshuffle widely expected to lose some portfolios so he could focus on National’s election campaign. Instead, Luxon did the opposite. Bishop was stripped of the campaign chair role and handed the Attorney-General job on top of his already heavy responsibilities in housing, transport, infrastructure and RMA reform.
Luxon said Bishop had a “massive workload” and insisted he “absolutely” trusted him, but the move landed as a political demotion rather than a practical reshuffle.
The explanation did not entirely convince. Simeon Brown, who took over as campaign chair, is also carrying major portfolios and acknowledged that “we’ve all got busy workloads.” That made Luxon’s workload defence harder to swallow, especially given Bishop had been expected to be freed up for the election, not removed from one of its most important roles. Luxon denied the decision had anything to do with rumours Bishop had been running the numbers against him last year, saying: “I think you’re really overthinking this.”
Bishop put on a brave face, saying Luxon had “made his decision” and that while he loved being campaign chair, “it’s fine, I’ve got plenty of things to do.” He said he would still be involved in the campaign and was pleased to pick up Attorney-General, describing it as something that had long been on his “little wish list.” Even so, the reshuffle’s clearest signal was not that Bishop had been relieved of pressure, but that he had been moved away from the campaign itself.
