Their denial will soon turn to fear as Members of Parliament who won their seats or got in on the list last election due to Labour’s success (and National not offering a viable alternative) realise that they won’t be in Parliament at the next election.
An MP gets very selfish very quickly when they realise their job is at risk. They go it alone. They try and stand for something and say something that is off-message and contradictory of their leader if they think it might get them support in their electorates.
Leaders get grumpy and look like it. Attacks start on the personalities of their opposition. They don’t always do it themselves but have a band of nasty people who don’t have to worry about the truth and just constantly undermine. A classic tactic is to continuously say that the Opposition leader is looking to stand down. Say it often enough without any credibility or evidence and hope that it instils doubt.
They have to instil fear into the electorate. In their panic they will do stupid things (like try and entrench legislation) and since they don’t have a plan they will just push out the next average idea in the hope that it resonates.
They should stand on their record and their vision for the future but Labour has a record of failure and we are over “vision”, we want action. Look out for a hell of an election year. Things are going to get messy.
Paula Bennett is a former Deputy Prime Minister and National Party politician who now works at Bayleys Real Estate as national director-customer engagement.