National Party senior whip Stuart Smith is continuing to deny he attempted to contact party leader Christopher Luxon over concerns his support from caucus was flagging, as revealed in the Herald last week.

The Herald article on Friday reported Smith had tried and failed to contact Luxon over concerns within National’s caucus about Luxon’s leadership, amid poor polling for both the party leader and the party.

Smith refused to comment on the report until yesterday, when Luxon’s office issued a statement in Smith’s name, claiming the whip had not attempted to contact Luxon for a meeting.

Fronting reporters at Parliament this afternoon after having avoided them throughout the day, Smith reiterated his claim he had not tried to highlight concerns about caucus support for Luxon.

He wouldn’t address whether National MPs had raised concerns with him.

“I don’t discuss things that go on within caucus.”

Asked why it had taken four days for him to deny the Herald’s story, Smith replied: “I didn’t feel it was appropriate.”

He didn’t provide an explanation why he believed it was inappropriate.

Asked if he had felt comfortable with the speculation prompted by the story without his response, Smith said: “Clearly.”

Smith acknowledged he had spoken about the article with National’s chief of staff Cameron Burrows after it was published but wouldn’t say what was discussed.

“No, I talked to the chief of staff about that story, and I have my views on it.”

Luxon walked away from reporters at Parliament when he was asked about the Smith saga.

He referred to comments he made yesterday that he would refuse to engage with the media if reporters continued to ask about the issue, which he described as “speculation and rumour”.

Luxon insisted he maintained confidence in Smith as his chief whip.

Asked why he had not raised concern about the Herald article earlier if he believed it was inaccurate, Luxon dismissed the question before walking away.

“Guys, sorry, as I said yesterday, if you want to talk about things outside the beltway that actually connect to New Zealanders and what’s interesting to them, rather than what may be interesting to you in the beltway and the bubble of Wellington, let’s have that conversation.”

Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.