1-on-1 in 10: Dr. Matthew Hooton on Luxon, Willis, the budget blowout & 2026 leadership rumours

This weekβs 1-on-1 in 10 features NZ Herald columnist and political strategist Dr. Matthew Hooton, in a sharp and often hilarious discussion on the state of the National Party, Nicola Willisβ economic record, Luxonβs leadership fragility, and the real fiscal situation facing New Zealanders.
With Martyn Bradbury, Dr. Hooton dissects:
- Whether Nicola Willis is truly the βbest finance ministerβ of all time
- The $120 billion debt, fiscal spin, and βmagic moneyβ of tax cuts
- What a leadership spill could look like, and how Bishop, Stanford, Brown & Willis fit
- Why backbenchers are taking numbers β and what threshold they must meet to dump Luxon
- Asset sales, offshore buyers, and the Future Fund as a bipartisan fix
- Nationalβs internal factions β and why the Liberal vs Conservative balance matters
- Predictions for the 2026 election, including the possibility of new leaders on both sides
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https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360903547/chris-bishop-behind-failed-national-leadership-coup-report
Well, well, well.
A leopard rarely changes it’s spots…. Hooton is still deluded….whilst he accurately believes that Luxon is klutz, he also believes that Seymour and Van Velden are the answer… and that private sector run companies better than the public sector…
There is no evidence of this , but there is plenty of evidence to show that as soon as soon as publicly owned companies are hawked off to the private sector down they go…run into the ground.
The fact that even Hooton has turned his back on this sick CoC must surely be a sign something is seriously amiss here! We don’t have a ‘runaway train’ we have a bunch of despotic lunatics on a train that has already ‘crashed’ and who are continuing to make ill-prepared, knee-jerking changes for the sake of change, while using them as a DISTRACTION! FGS Luxon is the WORST PM NZ has ever, ever had but there is no-one in their ranks any better β what does that tell you? They are a mad bunch of corrupt, liars, cheats, bullies and con-artists with enormous egos. How can normal folk watch this and not want to puke at the gall and effrontery. They are so unlike the Left MP’s, most of whom actually care about our country and its suffering people. Why, how, are some of you still voting for these unscrupulous fraudsters?