Simon Bridges

National MP Simon Bridges, who announced today that he's quitting politics in the coming weeks, has had a political career that's seen him in and out of ...

The party switched to making it a conscience vote at the second and third readings. This was not the man who had endured scandal after scandal, who had been taped calling an MP “useless”. No, this was a man who was happier than any of us and who, feasibly, could be prime minister one day. In August 2018, Bridges was dealing with the repercussions of a leaked document that revealed he had spent over $100,00 on travel and accommodation. He’s done a John Key, left at the most opportune moment, with no scandal brewing (at least, so far). Simon Bridges will be leaving politics in the coming days or weeks. But in April 2020, as Covid-19 continued to dominate the political landscape, a simple Facebook post threatened to end Bridges’ leadership immediately. It will go down in the annals of history as one of the most memorable, bizarre and meme-worthy moments in New Zealand politics. That triggered an all-out war, with Ross sending a series of now infamous tweets and slowly beginning to leak material that he said would bring Bridges down. In late 2021, after confidence faltered in Judith Collins, Bridges was said to be in the running to be leader yet again. It was a tenure that would see the party maintain its high polling, but internal fighting, scandals and leaks, along with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, saw support for National slip and Bridges was eventually rolled by Todd Muller in May 2020. In the following election, Peters attempted to regain his long-standing seat – but was beaten by one Simon Bridges, a fresh-faced candidate for the National Party. Bridges romped home with a more than 11,000 majority and has safely held onto the seat ever since. While the field of candidates is not yet known, one name already being thrown around is that of New Zealand First leader Winston Peters. The career politician, who most recently became a favourite of anti-mandate protesters, was the MP for Tauranga between 1984 and 2005.

Power Play - "Even the bad times were good" - on that chipper note, Simon Bridges bows out after the wild ride that's been his political career, ...

National will have to pick a strong candidate, with no skeletons in the closet. It was a battle royale and showed Bridges had the hide of a rhinoceros. National's credentials are supposed to be as the best economic manager and the finance spokesperson is the face.

Any feeling that it was worth waiting around to see if National's leader Christopher Luxon might stumble over the next couple of years could be put to bed.

The appointment of Nicola Willis as Finance spokeswoman is a smart choice by Luxon. Not only does he have strong trust in the deputy leader, respect for her is growing in the caucus. Bridges was also a key part of his party's claim to diversity, and this loss could make National even more vulnerable to criticism on this front. This time around, such a feat is highly unlikely, but it would be a good chance for the populist party to rail against Labour's Three Waters and iwi co-governance model, as well as the decision to deny the Tauranga City Council the right to have an election this year. Bridges' majority was slashed from 11,252 in 2017 to just 1,856 in 2020, so if Peters can capture a reasonable chunk of the anti-government vote it could get very interesting. Overall, having Bridges depart just when National is climbing fast in the polls is an unfortunate setback in its campaign to return to power next year. The attraction of spending more time with his family and developing a new (unannounced) career in Auckland after years of bruising and turbulent times in the bear pit of the National caucus will ring true for most. Richard Harman writes today: "That he has decided to go has raised questions among some in the caucus about whether conservatives like him are slowly being squeezed out of decision making. He's not spilling the beans about them at the moment, wanting his departure to be full of grace and positivity. With Luxon as leader, Bridges played a key role in helping rebalance the party and unify the factions. He has had to endure working closely with an inner circle including Christopher Bishop and Nicola Willis, who are leaders of National's liberal faction and were behind the ill-fated Todd Muller leadership coup. Despite that setback, Bridges managed to stay energised and clearly wanted to regain the top position. Last week's shock 1News opinion poll was the final indication, if Simon Bridges needed it, that his chances of eventually taking back the leadership and becoming PM were slim to none.

In just a matter of weeks Simon Bridges' incredibly colourful time in Parliament will be consigned to the history books. Political editor Jo Moir looks at ...

Reader donations are critical to what we do. This is the sixth opposition finance spokesperson Robertson has seen off since 2017 and Bridges is probably one of the ones to have made the minister’s job more difficult. Political editor Jo Moir looks at who will be left to fill his shoes Willis is effective in her housing portfolio, has the job of working out the party’s social investment strategy ahead of the election, and has to balance her deputy duties and stepping in for Luxon when he’s on the road. This is the sixth opposition finance spokesperson Robertson has seen off since 2017 and Bridges is probably one of the ones to have made the minister’s job more difficult. He has a problem in that the by-election is likely to fall in and around the trial of the New Zealand First Foundation, and while he isn’t directly implicated, the proceedings will hardly bring the veteran politician positive headlines.

"He was an excellent local MP, minister, leader of the National Party and colleague." The retirement will spark a by-election in the Tauranga electorate.

Bridges was rolled as National Party leader by Todd Muller in 2020. I have every confidence in National to win the election. Internal Affairs Minister Jan Tinetti is the Labour candidate. I feel that I'm leaving National at a good time. Bridges is currently finance spokesperson for National and is set to hand in his resignation in the coming weeks. "It's time.

Simon Bridges will be remembered as a thoughtful, gifted politician burdened by some extremely unlucky timing, writes Liam Hehir.

But some of the greyer heads in the room seemed to be a bit saddened by this revelation. Bridges – a newly minted minister – was one of the speakers and he had just jetted in from Tauranga. He apologised for it being a flying visit because his wife had very recently given birth. The simple truth of it is that, as with most politicians, it just wasn’t written in the stars. Back in the before times, when none of us knew what a “coronavirus” was, a string of political polls had his National Party with an edge over Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party. At that time, it really seemed like Simon Bridges might pull off something for the history books. I’ve written a number of times in the past five or so years in support of his political career and potential. I’ve been friendly with the guy but I’ve never been a confidante.