24 hours ago, Judith Collins, Leader of NZ’s largest party in Opposition, announced that she was demoting one of her senior MPs, Simon Bridges, and removing all his portfolios. 24 hours later, Ms Collins herself is no longer the Leader and the National Party caucus will be voting on new leadership in a week. All this while NZ’s Labour Government is passing legislation under urgency, without any outside scrutiny, that would deepen social division and give itself vast powers.

What a mess.

That Ms Collins had fought Mr Bridges for the party leadership in 2018 and lost, must surely be by-the-by. Or that Mr Bridges had just launched a new book, “National Identity”, the day before with some fanfare and had bested Ms Collins in a recent poll for preferred Prime Minister.

Rumours have been circulating for some time, about a National Party leadership challenge before Christmas. While smiling in front of circling media and stating she would never resign, Ms Collins would have been very aware of the precariousness of her position. She acted decisively to remove her perceived competition, roping in the hapless Jacqui Dean, National MP for the Waitaki electorate. Ms Dean, it appeared, had been harbouring injured feelings from an overheard joke made by Mr Bridges, directed at himself, at an event 5 years ago.

Waitaki’s constituents, the staunch solid South Islanders that they are, might be surprised their representative Ms Dean had such a capacity for offence.

Ms Collins was careful to announce that her decision to demote Mr Bridges so unceremoniously, was unanimously supported by the Board of the National Party. This was contradicted today, when members of the Board have allegedly hastily denied this.

Following Ms Collins’s announcement, other members of the Party quickly took sides and the counting began. Senior MPs resigned their portfolios in protest.

By the afternoon, following an urgently convened National Party caucus meeting, the stabbing of Mr Bridges had boomeranged and Ms Collins had been removed as Leader.

The question of her replacement remains open as there is no clear successor.

Speculation of possible contenders include Christopher Luxon, MP for Botany and Mark Mitchell, MP for Whangaparoa. However, Mr Luxon is severely lacking in any political experience and was reportedly not well-liked in his previous role as chief executive at Air New Zealand. He is also a firm supporter of the controversial He Puapua proposal by the Government, which has been seen by many as having the potential to create deep social rifts.
Mr Mitchell has often been touted as a potential contender for the leadership but has never openly expressed enthusiasm for the role.

An outside candidate for the leadership is Simon O’Connor, MP for Tamaki. An experienced MP who has frequently appeared in social media videos communicating directly to his constituents, Mr O’Connor is a vocal opponent of restrictions on free speech. He is also a co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international group of legislators working towards reform on how democratic countries approach China, and specifically, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Whichever way the vote goes next week, the division within the National Party, between its hitherto ascendant liberal faction and its more centrist group of MPs, has been laid bare. Many of the Party’s core supporters are keen to see the National Party return to its centre-right roots and place the blame for its devolvement in recent years on its political shift to the left.

Perhaps new leadership will surprise us all.