Bridges dismisses claims leadership under threat
WELLINGTON: National Party leader Simon Bridges is batting away questions over his leadership, saying it is ‘‘quite clear’’ that he will be the party’s leader come September’s election.
Speaking to media yesterday afternoon, Mr Bridges said he was not getting distracted by issues such as caucus leaks and was instead focused on getting New Zealanders back to work.
Details of a letter senior MP Nick Smith sent to Mr Bridges — which copied in all 55 National MPs — was leaked on Monday.
Dr Smith was frustrated that he, the head of the party’s policy unit, did not have more involvement in National’s new Covid19 policy team.
Asked about that letter being reported by Newshub, which obtained it through a National Party leak, Mr Bridges said: ‘‘That’s just the way it goes — we’ve been here before.’’
But he would not elaborate much further.
‘‘I’m not going to get distracted from a situation right now, where we are in uncharted times.’’
Mr Bridges did say Dr Smith’s letter was raised yesterday during the party’s caucus meeting, but ‘‘no concerns like that were raised’’, referring to the leaking of the letter.
He would not go into more detail, saying only that it showed National has ‘‘a lot of work going on’’ when it comes to new policies.
It was a similar story when he was asked about the party’s internal polling.
‘‘We don’t discuss those matters in public and I don’t expect to start now.’’
Last week, Mr Bridges was heavily criticised for his response to the Government’s announcement that the Level 4 lockdown had been extended.
A Facebook post in which Mr Bridges said the lockdown extension was a result of the Government’s lack of preparation attracted almost 30,000 comments, many of them critical.
Yesterday, he said he stood by those comments.
He made ‘‘no excuses’’ for what he said and that he would ‘‘say it again’’.
When Parliament resumed yesterday, he told the House National would be focusing on getting new Zealanders back to work ‘‘safely and sooner, rather than later’’.