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New National Party leader Christopher Luxon rang Dunedin list MP Michael Woodhouse yesterday afternoon to break the bad news he was already expecting — that he was no longer his party’s finance spokesman.
Mr Luxon was in Tauranga yesterday to anoint Mr Bridges, his only rival for the leadership before the Tauranga MP withdrew on Tuesday afternoon.
However, Mr Bridges missed his big moment due to a child having an accident at school and needing hospital treatment, leaving Mr Luxon to front an awkward press conference alone.
Mr Woodhouse, a friend and ally of Mr Bridges, was philosophical about being one-upped by his close colleague.
"Congratulations to Simon, I think he’s going to do a great job and will support him through the transition to make sure that he is in good shape when we get back to the House," he said.
"A wise person told me when I started this that from a portfolio perspective you should play to your strengths but not be a one-trick pony; my strengths are health and finance but I also have good experience in other areas of public policy and I look forward to helping caucus in whatever way the new leadership wants me to."
He said Mr Luxon had called him as a courtesy yesterday to confirm Mr Bridges was being handed the prized finance role.
For now Mr Woodhouse remains shadow leader of the House, until Mr Luxon’s expected announcement of his new line-up on Monday.
As a senior front bench MP and a Bridges loyalist it would be a surprise if he were not to receive a senior role, but what that might be he professed not to know.
"I can tell you that I don’t know what he has in store for me ... I’ll stand by, I’m not getting too worried about it. I’ll just wait."