Shake-up radical by Nat standards but no humiliation

claire.trevett@nzherald.co.nz The show-stealers in National Party leader Simon Bridges’ reshuffle are obvious and Bridges took particular joy in setting the scene for a showdown between new housing spokeswoman Judith Collins and Housing Minister Phil Twyford.

He all but sang the Nightmare on Elm Street song: “One, two, Judith’s coming for you.”

But he pointed out a lot of background work must happen as well to set the party up for 2020.

In that respect, Bridges continued with the structure that worked well for National, grouping his MPs into teams such as finance, children and social welfare, law and order, health and economic development to work on policies together.

It is a critical reshuffle for Bridges and by National Party standards it is indeed radical.

Half of its previous front bench has been wiped out — some by attrition (Bill English and Steven Joyce) and the rest by Bridges, who pushed down those considered to be the dominant “faces” of the former Government.

English was change averse when it came to reshuffles. He went about them as if he was playing with the peas on a plate, gently moving a couple round but never smashing them into the mashed potato.

Sir John Key was also careful not to rock the boat too much. By and large his front bench barely changed.

So Bridges was not exaggerating when he said his reshuffle came with some risks — although he was referring to the risks of some relative unknowns taking high-profile roles rather than the risk of a revolt.

National’s MPs are well trained not to kick up a fuss when they feel hard done by. That is less of a sure thing in Opposition so Bridges has taken care not to humiliate any of those who were demoted and he rewarded his rivals for the leadership.

Many of those who were shunted down were compensated, such as Gerry Brownlee. The departure of Key, English and Steven Joyce has raised Brownlee’s value to Bridges — he is the only one remaining of Key’s “kitchen Cabinet” and only a fool would want to get rid of all that institutional knowledge. Some of the match-ups seem odd. The quiet Paul Goldsmith is almost a twin for Economic Development Minister David Parker but may not seem the ideal man to take on the rambunctious Shane Jones on Regional Development.

Goldsmith is one of the few who took to Opposition with relish, impressing Bridges with a forensic approach to questioning on tertiary education and jobs, including hits on Willie Jackson in particular.

His other value is he is used to sacrificing for the cause in Epsom.

Jones’ portfolio has been identified by Bridges as one of his primary attack targets. Goldsmith’s job is to winkle out the big stories — then hand them to Bridges without a murmur.