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The Soap Box: National couldn't have predicted position it is in

Author
Barry Soper,
Publish Date
Wed, 20 Dec 2017, 6:02AM
For Bill English that was a very bitter pill to have to swallow.  (Photo \ Getty Images)
For Bill English that was a very bitter pill to have to swallow. (Photo \ Getty Images)

The Soap Box: National couldn't have predicted position it is in

Author
Barry Soper,
Publish Date
Wed, 20 Dec 2017, 6:02AM

The National Party would never have thought it was going to be in the position it finds itself in today.

A year ago, of course, it was polling very high, polling fifty percent. They were going into this year's election clearly believing they had it in the bag, but then Jacindamania hit home. Bill English suddenly wasn't facing an opponent like Andrew Little. Little is a bland character, as indeed Bill English is.

Who would have thought the battle would be between Bill English and Jacinda Ardern?

The problem for the Nats was, even though they were polling very high going into the election, they had no mates. The Maori Party was over and out, ACT was virtually non-existent, Peter Dunne had stepped aside from United Future, so National was left with no mates, and in the business of MMP, without mates you can't govern.

For Bill English that was a very bitter pill to have to swallow. Even though he ran a good campaign, those around him let him down and in the end they left Winston Peters with too many dead rates to swallow.

Peters was never going to go with the National Party. They should have seen the writing on the wall. Indeed, they probably did. They tried to drive him out of business, cut out the middle man as Bill English said. The trick didn't work, Winston Peters was in the prime seat again and he decided Jacinda Ardern was going to be the next Prime Minister.

Now the Nats have to grapple with themselves. I would imagine you'll see big changes come within the National Party over the next 12 months as a number of MPs chuck in the towel.

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