Dead Party Walking

Jamie-Lee Ross’s press conference and release of a recording of him and Simon Bridges discussing all sorts of murky activities has been the political equivalent of a suicide bombing, detonated for maximum effect, in the middle of parliament.

Also, as Ross potentially has more dirt to dish (including other secret recordings), this is not over by a long shot.

The tape itself is enough to sink any political career, let alone a mediocre one like Bridges with its discussion of how to hide donations, from wealthy Chinese, from the rest of the party and the public, the effective sale of membership in National to foreign interests (not that this was anything new for National), the culling of serving party members and sitting MPs to accommodate said foreign buy ins and the kind of blue blooded arrogance that has become Nationals trademark over the years.

Bridges of course counter attacked this morning (claiming X, Y and Z) but it’s too late, far too late, and well beyond the scale of any possible repair that some half-baked apology is going to fix.

So without getting into all the details, Jamie-Lee Ross has crippled the National Party by not only completely exposing its deep internal divisions but also by conclusively displaying that National is as mercenary as they come, willing to whore itself out to all and sundry without any thought of anything (or anyone) but the dollar.

Worse still, is that Ross is not finished and there is likely more damage to come, more secrets and more internal ruckus as those MPs who have suddenly discovered that they are expendable, if some Chinese donor has enough cash, will not take this lying down and surely revolt.

However the absolute summit of this horribly spectacular turd mountain is that National is now effectively dead, both politically and socially. They may not know it yet but that’s it for Bridges and National as even without Ross  adding any new dirt added to the pile there is enough here to keep Nicky Hagar in business for years!

A week ago there could still be some genuine speculation about who would be government in the next election (2020) but now that door has slammed shut with a brutal finality as now its Jacinda and Winston for the win, without even trying, and even with all the issues that have built up under their current leadership.

Now we are back to that point I blogged about in late 2016 when the situation in National after John Key left was also bleak with national effectively headless and the rats either jumping ship or being pushed off (often by bigger fatter rats).

Then there is the Botany Bay by-election to consider and how this will play out, in public, with Ross clearly willing to stop at nothing and dish all the details in what could only be categorized as Hell has no fury as a MP scorned.

In fact, if Ross plays this right, and secures the seat then he has the makings of being able to start his own party, ala Winston Peters, as not only is he willing to go head to head in a no holds barred gladiatorial showdown with Bridges but he also has a potential stable of dissident MPs to pull to his side from all of those “f**king useless” MPs that bridges was willing to sell down the river for Chinese funding, to build a party from.

Some National voters will probably sit still for this, because even at its nadir Labour still had a core of 24% who qualified as true believers, but a lot will not. Some will cut loose and look to parties like TOP for their rational policy fix, while other more conservative types will start to agitate for some vehicle to replace ACT. Others may even embrace the dark side and consider voting for NZ First or (shock horror) Labour.

And its not surprising that behind all of this are the same faces that we always fear and loath with Jerry Brownlee being the catalyst for all this when he demanded, what had supposedly been promised to Ross, and got it because “he will sit on the back benches and throw rocks” (according to Simon) and Paula Bennett acting as bully boy for Bridges and setting Ross up for his final suicide dive.

So yes, Bridges avoided having Brownlee “throwing rocks” but instead got Ross lobbing, what one acquaintance of mine described as, “thermonuclear hand grenade” into the core of the party and taking out everybody.

Seems the Gang of Four (Bennett, Brownlee, Smith and Collins) remains as toxic as ever and in allowing their toxicity to predominate at the highest levels in National, Simon Bridges has allowed the cancer to spread and grow to such a volume that it’s exploded forth with a wave of puss and foul ichor.

I contacted my national party contact (T) yesterday to find out what had gone on but got a rather short “not today mate, give me a week” in reply so when I get the inside scoop from him I will post it here but even so there is so little left that’s not been revealed or exposed as to be an open secret that I don't expect to be too surprised at what he reveals.

I have side this before and I am saying this again, that National had been on life support in the early 2000s after English and Brash had bent the party over and spread itself wide (see Nicky Hagar’s The Hollow Men) and it was only the miracle intervention of John Key (and the public reaction to an increasingly matriarchal Auntie Helen) which saved them from political oblivion then as to all intents and purposes they were politically bankrupt.

Today, without the necromancer magic of Key to sustain them, National is completely and utterly politically bankrupt and Simon Bridges has allowed Jamie-Lee Ross to destroy the brand in the most fatal fashion.

No-one wants to be identified with quislings willing to sell out ones country (and as the international mood swings against kissing Chinese backside National and their Chinese courtesans are on the wrong side of the debate) nor publicly link themselves with idiots, fools and incompetents. People are going to walk, people are going to talk and Bridges has not only let the narrative slip out of his hands he has completely and irrevocably destroyed both the internal and external fixtures of National.

So from now until it dies, National is a dead party walking, it will shamble forward as some sort of political zombie, maybe even Judith Collins will get to be leader, but only the most hard-core (or apathetic) National supporter will be willing to stand up and remain loyal.