John MacDonald: Luxon's leadership is more than just a party matter

After hearing Chris Bishop on Newstalk ZB this morning, there are two things about the National Party and its leader that I am in no doubt about. I am in absolutely no doubt that Christopher Luxon has to stand down before he’s pushed. I’m also in no doubt that, if that happens, National will be toast in this year’s election. But, when you weigh it up, there’s no way this speculation and doubt about the prime minister of our country can continue. And that’s the key point here. We’re not just talking about a party leader. We’re talking about the prime minister.And how can we take a government seriously when its own MPs don’t take their leader seriously? NZ Herald political editor Thomas Coughlan is reporting today that Christopher Luxon is expected to face the most difficult two weeks of his leadership when Parliament returns next week. He’s reporting that Luxon is up to his old trick of covering his ears and not listening to what people are saying.With National’s Kaikoura MP Stuart Smith, who is also National’s party whip, unable to reach Luxon in the week before Easter to tell him about ructions in the National Party caucus. Being the party whip, Stuart Smith is obliged to tell the party leader if drums are beating and MPs aren’t happy with their leader. But he couldn’t reach Luxon. Or, more to the point, Luxon didn’t want to hear from him. Because, as Thomas Coughlan is reporting, if the two had spoken, it would have likely led to a caucus meeting, which could have led to a change in leader. So Christopher Luxon was avoiding Stuart Smith to stop a certain chain of events from happening.Which Chris Bishop kind-of denied when he spoke to Mike Hosking, but he was a million miles away from being anything close to convincing. Bishop is due to front again with Jack Tame on TV this weekend. His boss will be hoping for a more ringing endorsement than this morning’s failed attempt. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.