Labour puts target on Bridges

Audrey Young comment

The worst thing a Government can do to the Opposition is to ignore it, and consign it to irrelevancy, but not so this week.

From the moment the latest Colmar Brunton political poll was published on 1 News on Monday, Labour was on the case of Simon Bridges, the new National Party leader.

Bridges polled only 10 per cent as preferred Prime Minister to the incumbent, Jacinda Ardern, on 37 per cent.

But Labour has been behaving as though he was a clear and present danger.

Emissaries from the Beehive were despatched to the Press Gallery to reinforce the point that not only was the gap between Ardern and Bridges 27 points, but that former leader Bill English had done way better against Ardern at the start of this year.

Not only that, they had further ammo targeting Bridges, who took over from English almost eight weeks ago: Bridges’ debut rating of 10 per cent compared poorly to John Key’s first rating as National Party leader at 27 per cent in 2006, and Jacinda Ardern’s first rating as Labour leader at 26 per cent in 2017.

Labour’s home-grown leadership losers were not spared from the campaign to reinforce the apparently hopeless case of Simon Bridges — he had done even worse on debut than David Cunliffe, David Shearer and Andrew Little — historic data helpfully produced by Labour showed.

Acting Prime Minister Kelvin Davis was similarly briefed for his media messaging yesterday — comparing Bridges’ debut to Ardern’s.

Davis went more personal, saying Bridges’ own ego would have placed him a lot higher than 10 per cent. Bridges should be disappointed and embarrassed, Davis told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking.

If Bridges is doing so badly as preferred Prime Minister why is Labour treating him as a threat in such a concerted effort?

There was much for National to be pleased about in the poll. Its party vote support has remained virtually unmoved since the election despite the loss of a highly respected leader in Bill English.

Labour must be worried that if National’s support has held up without Bridges having done so, then he really does present a real threat if he succeeds in establishing himself more positively.

That is reason enough for Labour to try to undermine him before he actually starts by painting him as a loser before he has even begun.