The trouble with John Key is that he established the modern benchmark for playful politics. He has the ability to turn most things into a joke, to make light of the heavy issues, to turn a curve ball into a plaything.
We've become used to the Prime Minister having, and making fun. It may at times make us feel like cringing, and we did, but he was generally seen as just like us, warts and all. The goldfish bowl magnified his behaviour, which didn't do him the least bit of harm. He was also the Prime Minister of the social media age.
His opponents, who've forever languished in single-figure opinion-poll ratings, claim he could see the writing on the wall with the latest slight dip in his personal rating to the late 30s. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's now clear he'd had enough of the job, he wanted to get on with his life and his absence will see Parliament revert to type, mundane with little flair and probably even less intrigue.
So far three Cabinet Ministers have entered the leadership fray.
Key's anointed successor, Bill English, is the sort of person the suits would like to see in the job; those who David Lange used to refer to as the demented reef fish, the money market traders.
English is dependable and predictable, never given to flights of fancy and who would unfortunately make next year's election debates with Labour's Andrew Little sleep inducing. He's honest enough, even admitting he specialises in being boring.
As for the second contender out of the blocks, Jonathan Coleman's droning, guttural voice wouldn't be much better, although this former doctor would at least being able to prescribe medication for sleep apnea.
The only one declaring her hand so far who would make you sit up and take notice, maybe not always for the right reasons, is Judith Collins, who won the tag "Crusher" for her threat to crush boy racers' cars and whose solution for diminishing prison space was to packing 'em into shipping containers.
So Brand Key, who wanted a seamless handover, hasn't got his way and fair enough.
National's been starved of a good old leadership stoush for a decade, so why shouldn't they have a contest?
Unfortunately it's probably only a matter of time before Bishop Brian Tamaki sees the lineup for the leadership as some sort of divine intervention: Bill English is a devout Roman Catholic and the other two have the same initials, JC!
- Barry Soper is the Political Editor for Newstalk ZB
