KEY POINTS:
And so the curtain comes down on the political career of Dr Don Brash. Typically, he even fumbled his departure. Instead of resigning immediately and sparing himself the embarrassment of becoming a wall flower at the caucus dance, he hung around waiting for an invitation. Which didn't come.
John Key and Bill English have a vision for the party that does not extend to hobby jobs for superannuant former leaders. When you look at what happened to Robert Muldoon and David Lange, you could say that Key has done Dr Brash a kindness by not allowing him to linger.
Dr Brash did a great job in reviving a National Party that was in crisis, and he should be proud of that. But he was only brought in as a night watchman - he said he would resign if he didn't win the election. His job was to block the bouncers of the Labour Government and keep the National Party in to gather strength and rebuild.
Instead, he delivered the Orewa speech, which was the cricketing equivalent of blazing an over full of sixes. And then he got a rush of blood to the head.
Instead of Dependable Don, we got Dashing Don, attempting all sorts of shots that were beyond him. A couple of good overs does not make a reliable tailender an opening batsman. Inevitably, he was found wanting.
I'm sure we have not heard the last of Dr Brash - I hope he gets a job where he can use his experience and knowledge for the service of the country.
And as for the Hager emails - well, really. The inner workings of anything are never attractive, are they? Politics is an ugly business. There have always been Machiavellian characters attempting to control the political players.
That there are cynical and self-serving creatures around the fringes of this country's parliament should not come as a surprise to anyone.
