Muller call ‘incredibly tough’ recalls Bennett

caucus wanting a change from Simon.’’

At that point, Muller had accepted she was ‘‘probably right’’ and ranked her 14 with a couple of portfolios.

‘‘But it didn’t matter, I’d already decided I was leaving, anyway. I was done,’’ Bennett said.

Less than two months later, Muller quit as leader, saying the role had taken a heavy toll on him and his family, and that had become untenable from a health perspective.

Bennett said she didn’t know what went wrong, ‘‘but it is an incredibly pressured job’’. ‘‘You need to be able to make decisions instantly. You need to be able to trust your own instincts. You need a plan.

‘‘I mean, they’d been planning it for 12 months, I can’t believe they didn’t come in with a plan,’’ Bennett said.

Asked if she was disappointed the National caucus had picked up on dissatisfaction with Bridges among New Zealanders, Bennett said: ‘‘Oh yeah, they needed to grow some.’’

‘‘Too many of them had had it too easy . . .

‘‘Their roles had been quite easy and at some level they needed to take a breath and just sort of work their way through it.’’ – RNZ