Will new leader be the one to win?

The writing was on the wall for Phil Goff on Saturday night.

As the hours ticked by and the election results flowed in, it became increasingly obvious the Labour leader had not only failed to lead the party to victory - he had suffered the most brutal hiding.

Labour suffered its worst defeat in the polls since early last century.

The shattered party's supporters woke to this horror Sunday morning and today, four days later, will be wondering who among the senior ranks will replace Mr Goff now he has quit.

Mr Goff yesterday announced he and deputy Annette King are resigning.

The problem for Labour now is choosing a strong leader to begin rebuilding.

Among those to put up their hands for the leadership or deputy role are David Parker, David Cunliffe, David Shearer, Grant Robertson, and Nanaia Mahuta, although there may be others.

But do any of these MPs have the leadership qualities needed for such a big job?

Do they have any charisma and profile?

Do they have the necessary political steel?

And, importantly, will people believe in them?

After years of having Helen Clark at the helm, Phil Goff seemed the natural choice after Labour's defeat in 2008.

But even Mr Goff, who is hugely experienced as an MP and minister and has a decent backbone, struggled to get traction against a National government that polled strongly and largely kept itself out of trouble.

The new leader will have to stamp their mark on the political landscape and try to achieve what today seems next to impossible - to beat National at the next election.

They are going to have to rebuild the party from the ground up, rebuild its brand and somehow get its name and its caucus and party members connecting with the people.

The struggle Labour finds itself in is not too different to National after it suffered its loss in 1999.

It took nine years and changes in leaders - including Bill English, Don Brash and finally John Key - to recover and seize power again.

But things do change.

If one thing has proven true in New Zealand politics it is that voters are always swinging between the two main parties.

I have no doubt Labour's time will come again and it will be National's turn to sit in Opposition.

The question is when - and will the new Labour leader chosen at a special caucus meeting on December 13 be the one to achieve this?

Only time will tell.