Bridges’ troubled waters
The report into the National Party leaks is far from conclusive in pointing the finger at Botany MP Jami-Lee Ross. But that no longer matters.
Ross’ spectacular explosion on Twitter is not survivable. He accused the National leader of framing him. He alleged illegal and dodgy behaviour. And he admitted secretly recording Bridges during some of their meetings.
It is disloyalty on a grand and almost unprecedented scale.
No MP can survive such an attack on his leader. Ross may or may not make good on his implied threat to take Bridges down. Until he produces the evidence he claims to possess, we can’t know.
But unless National MPs have a collective death wish, Ross will go down first, his suspension from the caucus seemingly a formality.
Bridges – and National – are on a precipice now. The National leader needs his caucus to move swiftly, and decisively, against Ross to inoculate himself against further leadership speculation.
Bridges needs it to be known that Ross was a lone wolf in his caucus, and not part of a pattern of destabilising leaks and dissension. Otherwise his leadership is doomed to fall to the usual death by a thousand cuts.
But it is not just Bridges who is standing on the precipice.
The National caucus must know it is on the edge as well; any hint of internal party splits and divisions would likely trigger the death spiral of the Opposition that will keep it out of power for years.
For many of National’s newer MPs, this is unfamiliar territory. But National’s older hands know the look and smell of those desperate times in the early 2000s when disunity and disloyalty tore the party apart and very nearly destroyed it.
On the surface, it looks as though Ross is acting as a oneman band but the fallout from the leak inquiry had started to sow the seeds of doubt about Bridges’ judgment.
The leak of Bridges’ VIP travel bill had seemed like a oneday wonder but instead it dragged on for weeks. And the hunt for the leaker itself was a hugely risky exercise. It required his MPs to open up their phone and email records to the PricewaterhouseCoopers team hired by Bridges.
That could be a breeding ground for grudges.
The report that fingered Ross concluded he was most likely guilty by triangulating his phone records to see whom he spoke to. We know from the report that there were three other MPs whose phone records were also a cause for suspicion till they were cleared over the matter.
But the talk in caucus had honed in on Ross weeks ago, a long time before the inquiry was complete. If he escaped suspicion initially, it was because Ross and Bridges had been close.
Ross was Bridges’ numbers man in the party’s recent leadership contest – despite previously having been seen as an ally of Judith Collins.
Bridges rewarded Ross with a huge promotion to the front bench and the prized transport portfolio. That promotion put him in Bridges’ inner-circle and gave him a key role in the party’s strategy and policy development.
But Ross wanted more, according to insiders, and demanded the role of senior party whip as well, a position that pays extra. Bridges was under pressure to share the spoils after getting pledges of support from MPs and said no.
When Bridges said that Ross was taking medical leave for unspecified ‘‘personal issues’’ it seemed conclusive, despite the National leader’s insistence the two matters were unrelated.
When Bridges and his deputy Paula Bennett confronted Ross yesterday, the MP denied being the leaker. According to sources, the meeting took place at ‘‘neutral territory’’.
There was no hint then, however, that Ross had been recording his conversations with Bridges. That dropped like a bombshell on Twitter, as Bridges was about to announce the inquiry findings.
It is a warning shot that Ross can continue to do damage from outside caucus – even if he is suspended and stays on as an independent MP. As a former whip and senior MP, he knows where the skeletons are buried.
The implosion probably played into Bridges’ hands, however, giving him a reason to remove Ross from caucus.