He was never a leader. He seemed barely even a full-grown man -- with a few brief years as a provincial prosecutor behind him before being catapulted into Parliament by beating Winston Peters (his one signal life achievement), then catapulted again into party leader when the room looked around and found everyone else even more ill-suited to the job than he was.
What does it say about the caucus that it looked around and saw this half-formed soft-shelled thing as its saviour? Perhaps that he best represented its own lack of any coherent direction?
Never a sign emerged, in any of Simon's fifteen months in charge it, of any political principle whatsoever, of any direction in which he might want to "lead" his party, or his country -- of any driving passion to fix any the place's many pressing problems, or to protect the individual rights that his party's constitution had once referred to as its aim. If there was any semblance of anything at all it was only that it was dripping wet.
His first few months ended up defining him -- a "getting to know me" trip around the country left the whole country knowing only that he had nothing to say, and that someone leaked his expenses for travelling around the country to not say it. What everyone most get to know from that little leak was that Simon could get really, really upset really quickly, and he didn't care who knew it.
Simon's tantrum and the fallout therefrom dominated nearly twelve of his fifteen months as leader -- twelve months in which he bizarrely cast suspicion across almost his entire party caucus -- whereupon he entered the spotlight for a different reason: for his decision to break the country's Level 4 lockdown to drive to Wellington because, he said, his internet at home wasn't up to snuff.
It was all over as leader once his deputy began insisting he retained the support of the National caucus. it was, perhaps, all over as politician once he realised there was no particular reason for him to be there, because there was no particular thing he need to be there to do: his only achievement in all the years he'd sat there being to make Jami-Lee Ross famous, and to make penalties for animal cruelty higher than penalties for cruelty to people.
And he never did build a bridge in Northland.
So farewell Simon from parliament. It's now evident that there was no reason for you to be there in the first place.
6 comments:
I have pondered your post.
After some careful analysis I have come to the conclusion that you dont like Simon??
Must admit you have thrown a goodly amount of muck. I presume you are working on the theory that some of it might stick
Aint freedom of speech a wonderful thing.
In my review of Simon in the house, I am reminded of his committee set up to ""review"" the Covid thingy in the early days when there was no Parliament. I thought he did a good job. Must have been those brief years (a great description for a lawyer) as a prosecutor.
Bridges began his legal career as a litigation lawyer in a major Auckland law firm, Kensington Swan.[9] He moved to Tauranga in 2001 to take up a position as a Crown prosecutor in the District and High Courts. During this time, he took leave to travel to the United Kingdom to study at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and later to complete a postgraduate law degree at St Catherine's College, Oxford; he also worked as an intern in the British House of Commons.[9] As a Crown prosecutor in Tauranga, Bridges mainly worked on jury trials.[12] Bridges ended his legal career in 2008
"After some careful analysis I have come to the conclusion that you dont like Simon."
I am gratified to know I made that clear.
Don't forget he was responsible for shutting down iPredict, too. That alone ment that he would never get my vote
Wont lie was almost suicidal living in this brain dead media death of NZ.
Your articles give me some peace .
I can add some pain to this legacy by stating he has used this tax payers platform to now gain a highly paid position in the private sector a bit like Shipley became a director of a Building company. Thank God for you Man!
please go to the spinoff
I don't agree, at least not latterly. I would have said something similar until about March 2020, but he did a good job of holding the government to account during the first lockdown when he chaired the Covid Parliamentary Committee, and since stepping down as National leader I've seen him on the AM Show most weeks making good arguments and holding Labour to account.
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