Muller call ‘incredibly tough’ recalls Bennett
Paula Bennett says Todd Muller’s treatment of her was ‘‘incredibly tough’’ and hurtful after he won a leadership challenge against then National Party leader Simon Bridges.
Longstanding MP Bennett was Bridges’ deputy when Todd Muller and Nikki Kaye won the National caucus vote in May, 2020, to take over leadership of the party.
Asked on the RNZ podcast series Matangireia, what she had made of the new leadership team, Bennett replied: ‘‘I didn’t. I just stepped away.
‘‘I was hurt. I felt that
I had given ... 20 years to this party.’’
Bennett said Muller gave her a 7am call on the Sunday following the Friday leadership change.
‘‘And at that point, he said to me: ‘I’m going to rank you really poorly. I don’t see a role for you’,’’ Bennett said. ‘‘That was incredibly tough, really.’’
Later Sunday, Bennett responded saying she deserved more respect.
‘‘He was showing more respect to Simon than he was to me, and I’d done nothing.
‘‘It’s not like I did anything to cause me to lose that role. I was kind of the consequences of the 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.’’ –