Leakers and backstabbers will be out of team, Collins warns

WELLINGTON: National Party leader Judith Collins has a firm message for any MPs who might leak or backstab her — run personal vendettas and you do not deserve to be in the team.

The caucus will meet for the first time today to digest the catastrophic election result, farewell the MPs who did not make it back and welcome the five newcomers.

Then the job to try to rebuild a devastated National Party will begin, including what could prove Ms Collins’ biggest challenge — trying to restore discipline and unity in caucus.

She has pointed to a leaked email about a caucus disagreement in the weeks leading up to the election as ‘‘debilitating’’.

‘‘It is clear to me that when people see a leak, a major leak, against a party in the last two weeks of the campaign that they view that dimly. As did I.’’

She said her job was to try to ensure the whole caucus was focused on winning in 2023.

‘‘When an Opposition decides it wants to win, people start working together as a team.’’

However, the message may not go down well in a caucus still raw from the election result and among some MPs who believe Ms Collins’ did not show loyalty to previous leaders such as Simon Bridges, Bill English and John Key.

Ms Collins said it was ‘‘foolish of them to think like that.’’

‘‘You don’t last in this business as long as I have, and hold the positions I have if you’re not working for the team.

‘‘Nobody can think their own personal vendettas or whatever is ever going to help them or the party.’’

Asked what her own biggest mistake on the campaign was, she acknowledged she should not have let the comments she made about obesity drag on for so long.

‘‘A few things I could have done better, by not going down the old distraction line.

‘‘But that’s what I’m like, I say what I think. I didn’t always have to add to what I had said.’’

National will now hold a review into the campaign, including the campaign strategy, and the role of the party.

Ms Collins said that would begin soon, once the board set it up.

A reshuffle could also be a way to try to secure unity — especially key positions such as deputy and finance — and help stave off any leadership challenges.

Ms Collins said that would not be done until after the final count in a fortnight, and after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had put together her Cabinet.

She would not say if her current deputy and campaign chairman Gerry Brownlee had offered to resign as deputy leader, but said if he did want to stay in the role she would keep him.

Mr Brownlee lost his longheld Ilam electorate seat.

Ms Collins had personally spoken to all those who did not get back into Parliament, and said she felt ‘‘very sorry for them.’’

‘‘There is now an opportunity for us to rebuild by 2023 . . . so my message is going to be ‘work hard, be humble’.’’

Asked how she would reconnect National with its base, she indicated she would repeat the exercise MPs did after National’s 2002 election disaster.

Then, MPs were sent out around the country — not just to their own electorates — to face up to and listen to the party’s volunteers. — The New Zealand Herald