Brash had expected to depart

Don Brash has admitted he expected to be dumped as National leader after the election.

He made the extraordinary admission when asked about his apparent ambivalence immediately after it towards keeping the job.

While he subsequently moved to declare his commitment to leading National into the next election, at least some National insiders continue to assert he's privately still uncertain.

This could however be part of a deliberate strategy to create room to enable Dr Brash to step down with dignity, if - in the future - a coup appears imminent.

One potential successor, the party's finance spokesman John Key, recently made a sudden appearance in the preferred prime minister stakes in a TVNZ poll in which 5 per cent of unprompted voters named him.

Asked this week whether his intention to remain leader was still something of an open question, Dr Brash said: "No, it's not an open question for me. But it's quite true I said before the election that party leaders who lose don't get a second chance and that was my confident expectation.

"It became pretty clear after the election from both the party machine and the caucus that there was no mood for me to step down, so I've indicated a willingness to continue."

Asked if he was deliberately using cautious language in case there was a mood change, he said: "We all know that moods can change, but at this point there's a strong support for me as leader at the moment and I've got a strong commitment to leading the party into the next election."

Dr Brash also revealed his anger over reports that he'd been given an ultimatum over terminating Murray McCully's role as parliamentary assistant to the leader, which had been done. He said Mr McCully had suggested before the end of September that the designation be removed.