Christopher Luxon has survived a confidence vote in caucus – his second within five months – and remains prime minister.

In a very brief statement this afternoon, he said the National Party caucus is united and he has its full support – despite earlier having spoken on social media about the distraction of “division and disunity”.

The party was now “going back to work and moving on,” he said.

The entire drama was ignited by reports of dissatisfied National MPs leaking to the media, fuelling speculation about Luxon’s leadership. Wanting the issue “to be resolved quickly”, he called the urgent meeting.

This felt like a decisive move, as if he was confident he had the numbers to defeat the dissidents and ward off all rivals. But it also coincided with the latest TVNZ/Verian poll showing Luxon down to 17% as preferred prime minister.

If his leadership had been truly secure, the matter would never have had to be put to a vote again.

The only saving grace, perhaps, is that opposition leader, Labour’s Chris Hipkins, is also unpopular, and the Labour Party lags behind National in recent polls.

Tests of modern leadership

This is hardly new territory for the National Party which burned through three leaders in 2020, before being wiped out in a Labour landslide at that year’s election.

Labour itself........

© The Conversation