Christopher Luxon remains Prime Minister following a long National Party caucus meeting in which a motion of confidence in his leadership was passed.
Luxon, alongside his deputy Nicola Willis, spoke to media following the 2.5 hour meeting.
Both refused to take any questions and Luxon spent much of his short speech complaining about media speculation over his leadership during the last week.
Much of that speculation was born out of a 1News-Verian poll showing the coalition government would be out of power, and a New Zealand Herald report that Luxon evaded National's chief whip, who was trying to tell him that caucus support was flagging.
The poll at the weekend showed National sitting on just 30% approval, rounded up from 29.7%, and Luxon's personal favourability down four points to 16%.
A vote of confidence was held on Luxon's leadership during the caucus meeting but Luxon and other National MPs have refused to comment on whether caucus was unanimous in its backing of the PM.
Numerous MPs were seen coming and going from the extended meeting, including Speaker of the House and National list MP Gerry Brownlee.
The Speaker does not usually attend caucus, but can if a vote of significance is taking place.
Following the Prime Minister's brief comments, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the thought the PM should have stayed to answer questions from the media.
Hipkins also said the results of the caucus vote should be made public.
So far, no National MPs have indicated whether the results of the vote showed unanimous support for Luxon.
'United as a team'
Chris Bishop said he voted in support of the prime minister, and there was a "good, honest, robust" discussion in caucus.
"Now we move forward together, united as a team," he said.
Bishop said he did not know how his other colleagues voted.
He said National needed to stop talking about itself, and instead focus on the country in the middle of a fuel crisis.
"I think what the prime minister was saying, which I would broadly agree with, is that the country has very difficult challenges ahead of it and we should spend our time focused on those challenges."
National's deputy leader Nicola Willis said by convention, the party had a secret ballot, with anonymous votes.
The scrutineers were not allowed to reveal the numbers to the leadership or to the caucus.
"What was very clear was that the caucus sent an emphatic message that we have confidence in our leader. We back him. We back our prime minister and we want to get back to focusing on the issues that matter to New Zealanders," Willis said.
"What we do not want to be drawn into is a media sideshow that distracts from that very important work."
Willis said there was an "emphatic" majority, as it would not have passed otherwise.
"One for all, all for one. When the caucus by majority have confidence in the leader then we all stand together backing the leader."
Willis said there was a "good, honest, wide ranging" discussion.
PM denies avoiding whip
The Prime Minister denied he was avoiding chief whip Stuart Smith and was unaware he had been trying to get in touch.
"He hasn't reached out to me. There has been no engagement with Stuart Smith from my office or with him."
The pair were together in North Canterbury on Tuesday last week. Luxon said it was not raised, and he had not spoken with Smith over the weekend either.
"If there's any issues that he had, he would have raised them with me.
"I talk to my backbenchers all the time. I was with a number of them over the course of the weekend at a number of events. I reassure you, I have the confidence of my caucus, period."
Chris Bishop, Todd McClay and Nicola Willis have also put their support behind Luxon in interviews in recent days, while Erica Stanford, stood next to Luxon at a post-Cabinet media conference, said she had not had any conversations with caucus colleagues about whether Luxon should stay on as Prime Minister.
"I think he's doing an exceptional..." she began to say, before Luxon cut her off to ask if anyone had any other questions.
Yesterday morning, Luxon told Newstalk ZB there were "probably five people" that were "moaning and frustrated" - a number he later walked back on by the afternoon.
The number, Luxon insisted, was in response to media reports he had seen.
"My comment was just in reaction to your media reporting quoting a number of sources that you said you had."
Responding to the poor polling numbers and his personal approval ratings, Luxon was "absolutely" confident he would still be Prime Minister after the caucus meeting.
"I appreciate I'm not going to be the person that everyone wants to go to a beer with, but they know that I'm actually leading a government that is a great custodian of this economy. And in difficult and tough times, that's what's needed now: strong economic management and stable coalition government - and that's what we're delivering."
Asked whether the matter would be raised at the caucus meeting, Luxon said there would be "pretty good" conversations, given the media interest that had been "sparked" over the last few days.
He would not expand on what would be talked about in caucus, but said the party had a good culture, and it had been "rebuilt and unified" over the last two-and-a-half years.
Stop leaking or quit, MPs told
National's campaign manager and senior minister Simeon Brown said caucus members who are talking to the media should put an end to it or leave the party.
"Ultimately, there is a need for caucus discipline and for all caucus members to know that ultimately, we are a team. We have a role to play, which is to support our leader, to deliver for New Zealanders, to focus on the issues that matter to them.
"And caucus members who wish to talk to media should consider whether they should quit the leaking or quit the party."
Asked multiple times whether he had put any pressure on the chief whip to put out a statement this morning saying media reports about his attempts to contact the Prime Minister before Easter were untrue, Brown did not directly respond.
"Quite frankly, this is a sideshow which New Zealanders are not focused on. What they're focused on is the issues that matter to them - paying for their fuel bill, getting to work, making sure that they are safe on their streets, that we reduce waiting lists in our hospitals, that we get our kids back to school. Those are the issues that matter to New Zealanders. Those are the issues that we as a National Party are focused on."
In the statement to media today, Smith said he would not be attending due to a "longstanding personal appointment".
"I did want to confirm that I did not contact the Prime Minister or his office seeking a meeting.
"I am disappointed by recent speculative media coverage. The Prime Minister has my full support."
Replacing Luxon won't help, says Labour leader
Labour leader Chris Hipkins says Kiwis have seen enough of the coalition government not delivering on its promises, and it doesn't have a plan to move the country forward, whereas Labour does.
Hipkins told RNZ's Morning Report programme today if Labour was in government, it would make visits to the doctor free. He said the cost - up to $100 for a visit - was resulting in families not getting the healthcare they needed.
More policies would be announced closer to the election - and after the government had delivered the Budget in May, he said.
Hipkins would not confirm whether he would be willing to work with NZ First's Winston Peters in a coalition if it came to it and Labour would set out closer to the election who they would be willing to work with.
He said it was clear Peters would prefer to work with Luxon as he was a "pushover" and had "run circles around him" since they were in government together.
But he said National replacing Luxon as leader would do nothing to fix the issues the country is facing.
Labour's campaign manager Kieran McAnulty said Luxon did not look like a Prime Minister who was focused on the cost of living.
"What Kiwis want to see from the government is that they're doing everything they can to address the cost-of-living crisis, and all they're seeing is fighting amongst themselves, or fighting amongst themselves within the National Party."
The general election will be held on November 7.
