Andrew Dickens Afternoons

I started to draft an editorial about the National Party situation last night, and I thought I had finished it, polished it up this morning. But now I understand how that Banksy painting felt being pushed through the shredder. It’s not just a week that’s a long time in politics - the last twelve hours have been. But as the saying goes, if you are going to go down, go down in flames. Jami-Lee Ross has thrown not just himself and Simon Bridges under the bus, but he has trashed his entire National Party family as well. In addition to describing Simon Bridges as ‘corrupt, dishonest and unfit to be leader of the National Party, he also called for businesses and donors not to make further donations to the National Party while Bridges is the leader. In addition to that, he stated ‘many people shared my views within the caucus’, or words to that effect. In doing so he has basically undermined the integrity of his entire caucus - claiming, in my view, that none of them would have the guts to stand up to Simon Bridges,