Grant Robertson takes a seat in the right direction

It was a job he had always wanted — until it was in his grasp. Then he realised he didn’t want it after all. Jacinda Ardern’s right-hand man talks to Claire Trevett about that decision, the reasons behind it and what his plans are now.

When Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ newly reshuffled Cabinet met on Wednesday, Grant Robertson was sitting one seat along from where he used to sit — down the table. He could have been sitting one further along up the table — the seat now inhabited by Hipkins. The seat the Prime Minister sits in.

Robertson had been considered the natural successor to take over from Ardern, in the event she stood down while Prime Minister.

His decision not to do it was as much of a surprise as Ardern’s decision to stand down.

So instead Hipkins stepped up — and Robertson stepped down a little bit, no longer the Deputy PM and opting to run on the list in 2023 and not in his Wellington Central electorate. It led to speculation he too was preparing to follow Ardern out the door, at least after the 2023 election.

Ardern was not the only one the past five years had taken a toll on. So through the weeks Ardern was tossing up her own future, Robertson thought about his own — and discovered he was no longer hungry for the top job.

A bit of bad health for Robertson also contributed to his decision. Robertson ruptured a disc in his back before the summer break — and is waiting to see if it will repair itself or if he will require surgery.

He also got sick over summer, losing about 7kg as a result. He will not give details, beyond that it was more than a cold but less than something like cancer (not Covid-related either) and says the bad health issues are now “under control”. “Nobody’s dying”, to quote the former PM.

“That was only a minor factor, but it re-emphasised my decision.”

His most beloved portfolio is as Minister of Sport and so he reaches for a sports metaphor to explain.

“Nowadays there are a lot of cricketers who make a decision about not playing one of the different formats of the game in order to lengthen their career. One of the things I gave thought to over the summer was: what do I do to make sure I can stick around for a decent period after the election?”

He said part of that was also not standing in his Wellington Central electorate again. “Being able to focus on finance means I can see a way to being able to stay on a pathway to being here through the next term. So part of the health thing related to that. I’m 51 and I do want to live a healthier life. I haven’t been great at that over the last few years, that’s related to the stuff we’ve had to do.”

He laughs when he is asked if he is actually likening himself to Kane Williamson stepping out as captain to focus on his game more, saying he had not mentioned anyone by name. “Steady the ship. That’s my job. The more I think about this comparison, the more I like it.”

He had once been hungry for the Prime Minister’s job — standing for the Labour leadership role twice before in 2013 and again after the 2014 election, beaten by David Cunliffe and then Andrew Little in the final tally.

In an apparent bid to try to preempt speculation that he could try to roll Little, he had said after the second failed attempt that he would not contest the leadership again.

But the reason he did not step in this time was not because of a stupid old promise nobody would have expected him to keep. Ardern had told him she was considering stepping down toward the end of last year.

“In 2013, 2014 obviously I did want to be leader. I did have two goes at it so it was kind of obvious. But the period of time since then in my political career, I put that away. And over time I became very comfortable with that decision, particularly in the period I had been Minister of Finance, supporting Jacinda. So when the prospect kind of came up again it forced me to say ‘Well, would I want to take this on?’ And the truth was I didn’t.

“Having been approximate to the job of Prime Minister, I know that if you’ve got a shred of doubt in your mind about whether you want to do it, you shouldn’t do it. That’s basically what the decision came down to.

“I work very hard, so the commitment bit wasn’t what I was concerned about. It was the desire bit. Because if you don’t [have it] you’re not going to perform to the level I’d be happy [with], or anybody else.”

He had spoken to Ardern about it as she was making her own decision. He said those talks were as friends, and mainly centred on what it would take for her to be able to stay on in the job. They also discussed whether he would do it. “She knew how I felt.

“She made it clear she thought I could do the job, but she wasn’t trying to force me. She knew where I was coming from.

“The second part of my thought process was, why take on a job I don’t have 100 per cent enthusiasm for when there is someone who does have the desire to do it and will be very good at it? I think both of us knew Chippy was that person.”

If he has an occasional pang of regret about that while Hipkins is going through his first weeks in the job — the swearing-in, the Waitangi travel — he does not show it.

Such has been their personal and political partnership that some also thought Robertson would leave when Ardern did — although that was always expected to be after an election loss.

He said he and Ardern had a strong political partnership. “That phase has ended and that puts me into a different phase now. But it’s one I’m comfortable with and that I want to do.

But it is different. “I don’t feel my job is finished as Finance Minister, particularly given the period of time New Zealand is in.

“This is a massively challenging economic environment and I think my experience is what we need. Having stability and continuity is a really important element.”

Asked if he would still stay on if Labour was in Opposition after the election, he side-steps: “It’s not something I’m contemplating because we are going to win.”

Hipkins is now his boss — which will also take a bit of adjusting to. He, Ardern and Hipkins were almost the three musketeers of the Labour Government — but Robertson said it was the nature of governing that they did not always agree on things.

“You know Prime Ministers make captain’s calls — regularly. So there are going to be times with Chippy when that will occur as well, just as they did with Jacinda. I think the three of us share a common set of values.”

He was consulted about parts of the reshuffle — joking his main focus was on keeping the Sport portfolio — “but ultimately the decisions were Chippy’s”.

He did agree with Hipkins’ assessment that Labour was doing too much and had to prune its programme, something Ardern had instigated: the first steps came this week with the axing of the media merger and the shelving of Robertson’s own baby — the income insurance scheme.

“I think that’s the nature of Labour governments generally. You work to achieve the programme you’ve got, you want to believe you’ve got the capacity to be able to deliver all of it because that’s what you’re elected to do.” In 2022, Labour realised it was too much.

“I think in 2020 and 2021 the entire apparatus of government was running on adrenaline because it was Covid and we were also trying to do our programme. It felt a lot of the time as if we were running two governments at once: managing Covid and trying to do everything else. When we hit 2022 and Covid began to move to the background, it threw a greater clarity on the scale and scope of the rest of the programme.”

Robertson said that and the economic crisis led to the realisation things had to change. “I’m not defensive about it. I think it’s just the arc of those three years, being so full-on, that by 2022 we’d worked out we needed to start scaling things back.

“At each point in the cycle, you’ve got to do the right thing by the country and I think that’s what we’re doing now.”

Robertson’s other unofficial job under Ardern was to be on the attack in Parliament — while Hipkins is more than capable of doing that job himself, Robertson has returned looking forward to the election year and Parliament next week.

The National Party thinks Labour should be tougher on crime. Robertson thinks Labour should be tougher on the National Party. And he’s happy to step up to do that.

“The National Party clearly think they can sleepwalk into winning an election. They have no plan, limited new policies and indecisive and vague leadership. One thing I think we can do better this show is show the contrast between what we’ve done, what we’re doing and what they’re not doing.”

Robertson — the Kane Williamson of politics — might have given up his chance to be captain, but he’s already starting his sledges.

Steady the ship. That’s my job. The more I think about this comparison, the more I like it. Grant Robertson, Finance Minister