Opposition leader Simon Bridges has denied claims his colleagues in the National Party are trying to oust him as leader, following backlash against a social media post criticising the Government's Covid-19 preparedness.
The post was flooded with negative comments, many apparently from National Party supporters.
Rumours have since swirled about a possible leadership coup involving deputy leader Paula Bennett and Mark Mitchell.
Mark Mitchell has also downplayed the rumours on Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning.
"You are talking about a commentator who worked for Labour and the Greens Party, who put up a speculative post that has no basis of truth on it.
"I can tell you now, Simon is 100 per cent focused on doing his job which is leader of the opposition, which is a very tough job.
"I am 100 per cent focused on doing my job. That is, supporting my electorate and doing everything I can to emerge from this and into a recovery.
"Of course I'm supporting Simon. I always have. I'm one of his biggest supporters."
The furore follows a Facebook post in which Bridges criticised the Government's approach of staying in lockdown five days longer than originally planned.
In the post, Bridges said if the Government had done more work during the lockdown there would be no need to extend it till next Monday.
"I now worry that the harm of staying in lockdown will be greater than if we were to come out," he said in the post.
Of about 18,000 reactions to the post, just 3000 have given it a thumbs up, while the remainder reacted with laughter or anger emojis.
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