MARCH 10 2018 LISTENER 11
CHRIS SLANEtrouble to her leaders’ doors over the years that any
niceness, when it manifests, is simply not trusted.
However, Bridges is unlikely to find himself in
Cunliffe’s predicament. He has much stronger
caucus support than Labour’s ill-fated ex-leader and
the ability to fatten it up quite quickly. He hasn’t
tried to play the party against the caucus – that was
Collins’s strategy this time. Most important, he has
every chance of appealing to National voters and
restoring the party’s electoral prospects, and popu-
larity is like Clearasil to intra-caucus grudges.
NO RE-JOYCING
But again, like all new leaders, he has some non-
nice-guy chores. In this vein, there will be no
re-Joycing. Joyce’s days as finance supremo, and
even campaign maestro, are almost certainly over.
Bridges knows a caucus majority supports Joyce’s
relegation – and not just because so many resent
his having been reportedly beastly to them in
person.
He’s the last bastion of the iron-fisted Key-
English-Joyce era – massively popular but not
exactly collegial. Other MPs’ bright ideas were often
summarily batted aside because John/Bill/Steven
already knew what was best. Joyce’s ill-advised lead-
ership run – he barely beat Collins – has not helped
safeguard his future.
However, there will be no Collins-oscopy. It’s
a no-brainer that “Crusher” Collins is a major
frontbench weapon, and the only
ticklish question is whether to give
her the finance portfolio ahead of
Adams. In the spirit of caucus faction
unification, Adams’ experience and
competence would make her a logical
choice for that senior job. But Collins
may be more the demolition unit
required, given that – with the popu-
lar Ardern a risky target – Nationalneeds to concentrate its firepower on
her key lieutenants and policy agents.
They’re all squarely in the finance
zone: Finance Minister Grant Robert-
son with his narrowing fiscal options,
Phil Twyford with the logistical
nightmare of new housing and Shane
Jones with the billion trees and the
regional development mega-fund.
Bridges’ other challenges are more
cyclical. The risk for new oppositionleaders is one of rearranging the
deckchairs not so much on the
Titanic but on the Mary Celeste.
Traditionally, first-term oppositions
face a mandatory Bermuda Triangle
of irrelevance till the novelty of
the new government wears off and
the first of the inevitable falls from
grace by inexperienced or vainglori-
ous new ministers begins.
He is also up against awful succes-
sion statistics. The pace at which
oppositions have changed leaders
for failing to lift poll ratings has
accelerated greatly in the past 20
years, so that the political commen-
tariat was picking the next couple
of National leaders even before
Tuesday’s ballot chose Bridges.
That talk will still for now, as
he commands the traditional
honeymoon of media attention.
Bridges has shrewdly refrained from
vowing to do more than refresh
the policy platforms that, after all,
got National the most votes not
six months ago. One thing’s for
sure, though: the next Simon Says
instruction won’t be “sit on your
hands”. lThere will be
no Collins-oscopy.
“Crusher” Collins is
a major frontbench
weapon.