Now, for the record, this is not about blowing my own trumpet. But keen listeners might remember a couple of months ago, I suggested that time would help Simon Bridges. I said perhaps by December if things as they were continued to track reasonably consistently - the government was a mess, the economy would slow - he would start to look far more settled and respectable in the job.
Then a couple of weeks ago, post the Nats' conference, I suggested again things continued to improve. He had the cancer service announcement, the following poll that had him at 45% - the largest party.
And he was looking increasingly confident. He, by the way, was shocked at my comments. He was on The Country. He almost, he said, chocked on his cornflakes. Well having said all that, do we have a band wagon?
Bryce Edwards ran with the theme last week in the Herald. Audrey Young, over the weekend, also in the Herald, talked of the increasing effectiveness of Bridges and how the government is now worried. Both pieces are worth reading.
What Bridges has found is a rhythm, if not a bit of mojo. The part-time prime minister was a brilliant and effective line. Telling us he would do nothing with Ihumatao contrasts brilliantly with the mess the PM has got herself in with it. Bagging her again over the petrol, she's the one robbing the motorist, the “fleecer in chief”.
One-liners: never under-estimate their value, especially at a time in the political cycle when most people only have a passing interest. A zinger sticks. So all of a sudden, Simon is no longer the whipping boy. No longer the poor sap, who is facing some imminent challenge to his leadership.
The Lee-Ross bollocks has come and gone, and he's been flushed out for what he is. The government, as of course history shows is always the case, is handing him material almost daily. The economy is in trouble, business confidence is in the toilet, there are any number of ongoing messes.
From Kiwibuild and its invisible reset, to government department resignations, the census, the aforementioned land protest, the angst over the gun buy back, Julie-Anne wanting to ban cars, labour shortages and a migration department strangling, the economy...they're all piling up, and the party with historically the go-to reputation for economic matters, looks like an increasingly stable and sensible alternative. Hence the poll numbers we're seeing.
Obviously, it's not even September, and it's 12 months to a vote. But if things continue to track the way they are, Bridges is building a head of steam and increasing credibility and support. He is on the verge of being a force to be reckoned with.
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