Three-term prime minister Sir John Key has delivered a wake-up call to New Zealand’s National party, telling members to look in the mirror for the answer to why it suffered such a devastating defeat in October’s election.
“We have to be honest enough to admit that our own failings played a part,” he told the party’s annual meeting at the weekend. “If we don’t acknowledge that, if we don’t take responsibility for it, then we won’t learn from it.”
Labour, led by Jacinda Ardern, won in a landslide while National suffered its worst defeat since 2002, gaining just 33 of parliament’s 120 seats – 23 fewer than in the previous election. The extent of the groundshift is reflected in the fact that Labour won the party vote (voters choose both an electorate candidate and a party) in all but one of the country’s 72 electorates.
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National’s fortunes were not helped by two leadership changes in less than three months and a series of leaks leading up to the election. Noting the latter, Key said in his speech: “If you can’t quit your leaking, here’s a clue – quit the party.”
Key, one of the most popular leaders in recent history, cautioned the party against expecting the public to tire of Ardern and for her government to falter. “That’s called the hope strategy and in my opinion hope is not a strategy, because if we sit around waiting for Jacinda to make mistakes then we’re not going to win the election in 2023.”
In subsequent media interviews, Key added that the Covid-19 pandemic had given the government an “unprecedented” platform to communicate to the country, but National had to take responsibility for its own actions.
The party had failed in a number of ways, from leadership changes to leaking to disunity. “All of those get punished very strongly by an electorate.
“If we want to be silly enough to continue with the sorts of games that have been played recently, then [the media] are going to report them and we’ve only got ourselves to blame,” Key said.
These comments by Key, who chose to step down in 2016 after eight years as prime minister, followed a speech by National party president Peter Goodfellow who accused the media of “clickbait” coverage of the election, and the Labour government for the “tyranny” of its Covid-19 response.
Key sacked (and later reinstated) current National leader Judith Collins from his cabinet during his time but said she would make a good prime minister. “[She is] a tough operator; people want that.”
Just as Key’s affable nature won him a reputation as the sort of person Kiwis would like to invite round for a barbecue, Ardern’s appealing personality transformed the fortunes of her party.
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