Ryan Bridge: Luxon's leadership is in question, yet again

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · Aug 10, 2026 · 2m · transcript

Here we go again.

For the second time this year, there's a story in the media about National MPs doing the numbers on Luxon.

At least one of them is talking to Thomas Coughlan at the Herald.

Now, one or two chatting to the media doesn't equal a coup.

But the political calculation is that Luxon is a drag on the party’s polling. Changing horses midstream would not hurt their chances of forming a government, and might provide momentum and a boost to their share of the right voting bloc, and perhaps even some soft centre.

They’ll be tempted by the Jacinda transition which saw a poll bump. A…