Labour MP Willie Jackson was not afraid to weigh in on what to expect from the review into National’s election campaign, which was discussed by National MPs in caucus today.
National president Peter Goodfellow confirmed to 1 NEWS that the party’s MPs had discussed the review in caucus, but it was not given to MPs.
“We’ve set up a process where they’ll be able to review it,” Goodfellow said.
Goodfellow said the review findings were “constructive” and “thorough”, but he denied a fear of a leak was behind the decision not to release it to National MPs.
“Some of the recommendations were not necessarily what we expected, no.”
National leader Judith Collins said today it was a matter for her party’s board.
“This a board review, it’s a matter for the National Party board and I’ll be discussing it with caucus,” she said.
The review was expected to be discussed with National’s MPs this morning at caucus, but party president Peter Goodfellow was not committing to releasing it to MPs. (Source: Other)
“I think everyone knows what went wrong [with the election].”
Jackson, unlike many of his fellow Labour MPs, was happy to say National ran an ugly, arrogant campaign, particularly when compared to that run by Labour leader Jacinda Ardern, when asked about the review.
“They [the review panel] will find that they [National] were totally out of touch with New Zealanders, New Zealanders got sick of the ugly side that they kept running, so our Prime Minister presents a side that has not been seen before,” he said.
“They’ll find out that there were mistakes made along the way that shouldn’t have been made and decisions made that shouldn’t have been made.
“I think New Zealanders got put off by their approach.”
The Māori Development Minister said the nature of National’s campaign had resulted in the historic defeat in October.
“There was an arrogance from the National Party, a total arrogance in terms of where they thought people were at,” Jackson said.
“What caught up with them is their ugly campaign in many ways and that’s why they ended up with 25 per cent.
“Their arrogance and their view that Labour had done nothing in the previous three years in terms of turning around statistics in the different areas. People know what we inherited and what the struggle has been.
“You can’t forget about the people and there was an arrogance that came across from their MPs constantly who got caught out during the campaign, sadly, their leader got caught out badly too. There was no surprise in the end.”
Jackson then facetiously threw his support behind Collins’ leadership before suggesting National changing leaders was likely before the next election.
“She’s a wonderful leader, isn’t she? She’s doing alright, keep her in there I say. Judith’s going alright isn’t she?” he said.
“Will she lead them all the way? I think they’re playing a bit of a game at the moment. At the moment there won’t be any change because no one wants to inherit a party that’s at 25 per cent.”
Jackson also said National’s decision to run candidates in the Māori seats at the next election was based on political desperation.
“They’re looking to get every single vote they can get, they know they’ve got no chance of winning a Māori seat but they got to try get votes from somewhere,” he said.
“It’s all opportunism from them, this is a party that totally opposed the Māori seats and now they’re the big supporters. We’re not surprised by that action. They have to pick up votes anywhere and everywhere they can, that’s a decision based on opportunism rather than principle.”
National MP Michael Woodhouse said today’s discussions had taken place in caucus today.
“We don’t discuss what goes on in caucus, that’s all I have to say,” he said.
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