A three-hour National Party caucus meeting has seen Judith Collins rolled as opposition leader.
Current deputy Shane Reti is stepping in as interim leader while MPs Mark Mitchell and Christopher Luxon are tipped as new leadership candidates with a caucus vote expected next week.
The drama follows Collins’ backfired attempts to demote Tauranga MP Simon Bridges and remove him from his portfolio responsibilities.
In a media statement released Wednesday night, Collins said she took action against Bridges following allegation of serious misconduct in his interaction with a caucus colleague.
National MPs said the media statement was a “surprise” and left party members scrambling.
The colleague Collins referred to turned out to be National Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean and involved an incident around five years ago.
In a statement, Dean says she was “upset” by the comments Bridges made at the time.
“They were not about me, but they were inappropriate and not something I wanted to hear.
“At the time there was an apology, but subsequently it has continued to play on my mind and with the recent reviews that have occurred in Parliament the feelings have been brought back up.
“What matters to me is that all of us have a clear understanding of what behaviour we should expect in a modern workplace environment.
“Simon and I have spoken a number of times over the past few hours and he has reiterated his apology.
“As I’m sure can be appreciated, the publicity around this has been upsetting and I ask that my privacy is respected on this,” Dean says.
Collins confirmed she has been removed as leader on Twitter and said she was “pleased to say that I am just the MP for Papakura again”.
Meanwhile, Bridges said her actions were a “desperate attempt” to remove him and he has confirmed he will take a couple of days to consider his position and whether or not he will run for the leadership role again.
