The Politicians of the Year

Both the Herald and Stuff have proclaimed their politicians of the year. The Herald goes for Chris Luxon and Stuff for Nicola Willis.

Hard to disagree as between them, they have taken National from 25% behind Labour to a small but comfortable lead.

Claire Trevett at the Herald writes:

But Luxon took over as leader in December 2021, just a year after becoming an MP.

HIs caucus was in a state of crisis and polling in the mid-20s.

He ends this year with polling in the high-30s and a realistic chance of becoming Prime Minister in 2023. …

That meant delivering something of a miracle: turning the zoo that was the National Party caucus of 2020 and 2021 back into a well-disciplined, focused and generally hard-working team.

The caucus of today is like a different lot of MPs than late last year.

Meanwhile Stuff’s political team hand out a few awards:

• Worst mistake: David Parker’s tax on KiwiSaver
• Rising Rookie: Barbara Edmonds
• Opposition MP of the Year: David Seymour
• U-turn of the Year: National scrapping the 39% tax rate
• Backbencher of the Year: Karen Chour
• Scott Morrison Award: Chris Luxon for his Hawaii holiday
• Survivor Award: Nanaia Mahuta
• Fixer of the Year: Chris Hipkins
• Statesperson of the Year: Jacinda Ardern
• Hardest tryer: Paul Eagle
• Drama Award: Gaurav Sharma, runner up Louisa Wall
• Politician of the Year: Nicola Willis, runner up Grant Robertson

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