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| Judith Collins - National Party leader |
There are numerous pros and cons to picking Crusher as leader of the opposition. On one hand she’s ruthless, and in a nest of vipers certainly has the required venom to be top snake. But on the other hand she has baggage, and requires a number of media servants to continuously clean up after her.
Crusher is also going up against a younger and stronger opponent who is incredibly popular! Let's be honest, she really doesn’t have a hope in hell of getting National back in the game. In fact only the most deluded right-wingers think the blue “team” has any chance at all of winning the next election.
Today, the NZ Herald reported:
Judith Collins is new National Party leader, Gerry Brownlee is deputy leader after Todd Muller quits
New National Party leader Judith Collins is already targeting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern - and ensuring she won't get away with any "nonsense" - but one of her own senior MPs may be the first in her sights.
Collins would not confirm today whether Michael Woodhouse would retain the critical health portfolio, following the scandal last week over Covid patients' details being leaked by former party president Michelle Boag and MP Hamish Walker - a saga that played a role in Todd Muller's decision to quit as party leader.
Woodhouse also received information from Boag and his future as National health spokesman will be determined today.
"That is a very good question and one I will be answering pretty soon, once I have looked at the facts. I have had no oversight of that," Collins told RNZ when asked whether Woodhouse will retain the role.
It would be great if some unbiased journalists also asked Collins, who knows all about leaking private information for political gain, if she also knew about Michelle Boag conspiring with National Party MPs to leak COVID-19 patient’s medical information?
She said she was "absolutely not at all comfortable" around the leaking of patients' details.
"I have not seen anything quite like that and I am taking it quite seriously.
"I'll be talking to Michael today, we'll be getting some information on that and then I'll be making a call."
Collin’s may want to appear like a strong and principled leader by crushing dirty politics practitioner Michael Woodhouse, or she may want to downplay the seriousness of the National Party’s leaking fiasco by keeping Woodhouse on.
Crusher may also just want to remove another dangerous and messy operator from being a threat. Either way, her decision will have nothing to do with the moralities of the matter and everything to do with the optics and how things might play out in the news cycle.
I could go on all day about Crusher’s numerous conflicts of interest and underhanded tactics, but suffice to say that she’s clearly not suitable Prime Minister material. In my opinion she's not suited to being a Parliamentarian either.
