April 21, 2026 • 5 mins
Chris Luxon has survived a confidence vote he initiated among his Caucus today, after speculation there's been dissatisfaction.
National MPs aren't revealing details of the vote - or how many supported Luxon.
Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper explained further.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thomas Coglin of the Herald is going to be with
us after five o'clock on this business with Chris Lux
and blaming the media for the soap opera. Right now,
it's fourteen away from five, and Barry so Per, senior
political correspondent, is with us.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hallo, Barry, Good afternoon, Heather.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
What did I say to you yesterday? He had to
call a leadership vote?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So what does that mean?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I was just trying to score a point, that's all.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Oh. Yeah, it was over to him whether he did
or not. I said, why does he need to if
he claimed that he had the majority of caucus. Well,
he had the courage of his convictions and decided to
put it and that's a big risk.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
You got to respect this.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well. I can't remember any of the prime ministers I've
covered every having put themselves to a vote of confidence,
although most didn't need to.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
But you know, it does it regains the authority, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well, yes it does, it does gain the authority. But
when you've got Winston Peters coming out and saying he
thinks he's made a fateful error. The problem, as I said,
from Winston's perspective that you know further down the track,
say a couple of months time, and he likes and
move the vote himself, then some members of caucus can say, well,
(01:10):
have another should of it.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Okay, we're wanting to do it while I put the
hawks before the cart. So what Winston has said is
Luxeon shouldn't have called the leadership vote. It's a very
bad move because there's always an inevitable consequence. This is
not the first time it's going to happen, you see.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yes, that's their theory behind.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
So he's basically saying it's setting a precedent. So next
time there's some leak, next time there's a bad poll,
and then there's upset, and then there's leaking, there will
be an expectation that he does the same thing and
calls a leadership.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Vote, or he'll be challenged to be saying, look you've
done it.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
In which case he can do it again. It hasten
his own end.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So it was interesting in Parliament this afternoon because certainly
Christopher Luckson locked much more relaxed and right fair enough,
but Labour's Chris Hopkins put to him an interesting theory.
Now to continue his Prime Minister, he has to have
the majority of the House and make that declaration to
(02:03):
the Governor General. Now, the thing is, without knowing the
size of the majority who voted for him, it's virtually
impossible to know how many voted against him, with the
vote being a secret ballot, so you don't know the numbers.
But Luxeon talked in the House about a unanimous vote,
which I'd have to say, in the circumstances is a
(02:24):
little doubtful. But we'll never know.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Does the Prime Minister continue to enjoy the unanimous support
of National Party members of Parliament? Absolutely, Christopher Luxen has
to advise the Governor General that he continues to enjoy
the support of a majority of members of Parliament in
this house. That is absolutely the constitutional position. Somebody cannot
(02:48):
be the Prime Minister unless they can continue to advise
the Governor General that they enjoy the support of the House.
If they have lost support of some of their own imps,
then the question of whether or not they enjoy the
confidence of the houses of very legitimate one.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
See, the thing is because you will never know because
and maybe the following audio may explain what it actually
means if you do pass a vote of confidence. Listen
to the powerbrokers in the National Caucus and the numbers
don't seem to matter. Here's Nikola with as followed by
Chris Bishop.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
One for all, all for one, and when the caucus
by majority have confidence in the leader, that we all
stand together. Why did he put that confidence motion forward
and ask confidence to vote on whether they had confidence
Because he wanted to draw an end to the endless
media speculation, to draw a line under it.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
I think what's most regrettable when we had a bit
of a conversation about this as a caucus is the
sort of briefing to the media anonymously by any number
of people. And so there was a very clear message
given in the caucus by a lot of people actually
to stop doing that. And I'm confident it will stop now.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
So if he's confident, I think you can probably be restitued.
There won't be that much talk in the future. So
what's the confidence though it is successful? Essentially, what they
were saying was that they all have to be on board,
so majorities and numbers don't really matter.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Okay, so do you think that for how long does
this put an end to everything? Or does it put
an end to everything? Until November Berry in your opinion.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, my opinion is it puts an end to everything
until November. I mean, they don't want to be seen
as scrapping with them their core, because that's what I
said right from the beginning. Either there won't be there
won't be a replacement.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Look, I don't I don't want to because I've already
got I've already won one today, So I don't want
to sort of rob salt into the wound. But if
there is any more leaking before November, bottle of whiskey,
oh about it? So we're shaking on a bottle.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
No, but we shake, we shock on a bottle of
the best whiskey. When I told you that pay Donald
Trump and would.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And I freely admit I owe you a bottle of
whisky on you were right? But can we put a
bottle of whiskey on this? You say no leadership chat
through November, and I say leadership chat before November.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Oh, there won't be a chat, but there won't be
a change.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Oh now, shifting for more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
Listen live to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
Thomas Coglin of the Herald is going to be with
us after five o'clock on this business with Chris Lux
and blaming the media for the soap opera. Right now,
it's fourteen away from five, and Barry so Per, senior
political correspondent, is with us.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hallo, Barry, Good afternoon, Heather.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
What did I say to you yesterday? He had to
call a leadership vote?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So what does that mean?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I was just trying to score a point, that's all.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Oh. Yeah, it was over to him whether he did
or not. I said, why does he need to if
he claimed that he had the majority of caucus. Well,
he had the courage of his convictions and decided to
put it and that's a big risk.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
You got to respect this.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well. I can't remember any of the prime ministers I've
covered every having put themselves to a vote of confidence,
although most didn't need to.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
But you know, it does it regains the authority, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well, yes it does, it does gain the authority. But
when you've got Winston Peters coming out and saying he
thinks he's made a fateful error. The problem, as I said,
from Winston's perspective that you know further down the track,
say a couple of months time, and he likes and
move the vote himself, then some members of caucus can say, well,
(01:10):
have another should of it.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Okay, we're wanting to do it while I put the
hawks before the cart. So what Winston has said is
Luxeon shouldn't have called the leadership vote. It's a very
bad move because there's always an inevitable consequence. This is
not the first time it's going to happen, you see.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yes, that's their theory behind.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
So he's basically saying it's setting a precedent. So next
time there's some leak, next time there's a bad poll,
and then there's upset, and then there's leaking, there will
be an expectation that he does the same thing and
calls a leadership.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Vote, or he'll be challenged to be saying, look you've
done it.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
In which case he can do it again. It hasten
his own end.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So it was interesting in Parliament this afternoon because certainly
Christopher Luckson locked much more relaxed and right fair enough,
but Labour's Chris Hopkins put to him an interesting theory.
Now to continue his Prime Minister, he has to have
the majority of the House and make that declaration to
(02:03):
the Governor General. Now, the thing is, without knowing the
size of the majority who voted for him, it's virtually
impossible to know how many voted against him, with the
vote being a secret ballot, so you don't know the numbers.
But Luxeon talked in the House about a unanimous vote,
which I'd have to say, in the circumstances is a
(02:24):
little doubtful. But we'll never know.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Does the Prime Minister continue to enjoy the unanimous support
of National Party members of Parliament? Absolutely, Christopher Luxen has
to advise the Governor General that he continues to enjoy
the support of a majority of members of Parliament in
this house. That is absolutely the constitutional position. Somebody cannot
(02:48):
be the Prime Minister unless they can continue to advise
the Governor General that they enjoy the support of the House.
If they have lost support of some of their own imps,
then the question of whether or not they enjoy the
confidence of the houses of very legitimate one.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
See, the thing is because you will never know because
and maybe the following audio may explain what it actually
means if you do pass a vote of confidence. Listen
to the powerbrokers in the National Caucus and the numbers
don't seem to matter. Here's Nikola with as followed by
Chris Bishop.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
One for all, all for one, and when the caucus
by majority have confidence in the leader, that we all
stand together. Why did he put that confidence motion forward
and ask confidence to vote on whether they had confidence
Because he wanted to draw an end to the endless
media speculation, to draw a line under it.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
I think what's most regrettable when we had a bit
of a conversation about this as a caucus is the
sort of briefing to the media anonymously by any number
of people. And so there was a very clear message
given in the caucus by a lot of people actually
to stop doing that. And I'm confident it will stop now.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
So if he's confident, I think you can probably be restitued.
There won't be that much talk in the future. So
what's the confidence though it is successful? Essentially, what they
were saying was that they all have to be on board,
so majorities and numbers don't really matter.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Okay, so do you think that for how long does
this put an end to everything? Or does it put
an end to everything? Until November Berry in your opinion.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, my opinion is it puts an end to everything
until November. I mean, they don't want to be seen
as scrapping with them their core, because that's what I
said right from the beginning. Either there won't be there
won't be a replacement.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Look, I don't I don't want to because I've already
got I've already won one today, So I don't want
to sort of rob salt into the wound. But if
there is any more leaking before November, bottle of whiskey,
oh about it? So we're shaking on a bottle.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
No, but we shake, we shock on a bottle of
the best whiskey. When I told you that pay Donald
Trump and would.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And I freely admit I owe you a bottle of
whisky on you were right? But can we put a
bottle of whiskey on this? You say no leadership chat
through November, and I say leadership chat before November.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Oh, there won't be a chat, but there won't be
a change.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Oh now, shifting for more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
Listen live to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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