Get them over the bridge, Simon
Bridges. National’s new leader and its former transport minister is going to have to build a bunch of them in the coming weeks, months and years to keep his party relevant and in the hunt.
Simon Bridges appears to have the tools to construct the first part of this tricky triumvirate. He has long been seen and groomed as leadership material, positioned himself as a front-runner throughout the two-week campaign and won on the second ballot, suggesting the leadership vote was reasonably clear and decisive and the party rolled in nicely behind him. Job done.
The second part might be a little tougher in its construction. Bridges is a proud ‘‘compassionate conservative’’ whose social policy views mirror those of Bill English, the leader he succeeds and the man he acknowledged so warmly.
The new leader voted against same-sex marriage and opposes euthanasia. He goes to church and his father was a Baptist minister. That puts him at odds with not only the liberal faction led by Amy Adams but, potentially, the sweep and momentum of popular opinion in this country and around the world. And despite his relative youth at 41, and talk of generational change within the party he now leads, such views are likely to ensure that little of the stardust that lit up Jacindamania will rest on Bridges’ nicely pressed blue suit and sharp National Party pin.
National appears to have simply found a fresh, youthful sticker to slap on the status quo.
The truth of this will be revealed when Bridges announces his rejigged leadership team over the next few weeks.
What does that mean for the ‘‘broad church’’ of talent he praised so highly in his first press conference as leader? Which of the old guard will be replaced by the party’s shiny new faces?
One vital conduit, however, still appears to be a bridge too far. Aside from vague references to the environment, renewable energy and the prosperity of regional New Zealand, there was little in Bridges’ speech to suggest that National is ready to tackle its greatest challenge: making itself attractive to other potential political partners and leaving itself with more options in future elections.
It was notable that Bridges admonished the ‘‘accidental, experimental’’ Labour-led coalition government. MMP was barely mentioned.
He may have been talking to a National Party base that still believes it was robbed in the 2017 election, that democracy was somehow usurped by a 72-year-old political malcontent with no intention of backing the bluebloods.
To borrow a good Kiwi colloquialism, the party and its leadership need to build a bridge and get over it, and Bridges and his re-elected deputy Paula Bennett will need to play key roles in laying down that path.
Lest they be left behind on that mythical span to nowhere.