Barry Soper: For National, this year has struck new lows

The National Party would never have thought that it was going to be in the position that it finds itself in today.

A year ago, of course, it was polling very high, it was close to 50 per cent. And they were going into this year's election clearly believing they had it in the bag.

Then Jacindamania hit home very strong. Bill English suddenly wasn't facing an opponent like Andrew Little.

Little's as bland a character as indeed Bill English is. Who would have thought the battle was going to be between Ardern and English.

The problem for the Nats, even though they were polling very high going into this election, is they had no mates.

The Maori Party was over and out, Act virtually non existent. United Future - Peter Dunne - had stepped aside so really National was left de-friended. And in the business of MMP, without mates you can't govern - and for Bill English that was a very bitter pill to have to swallow.

But I think even though he ran a good campaign, I think those around him let him down and in the end they left Winston Peters with too many dead rats to swallow.

He was never going to go with the Nats. They should have seen the writing on the wall and indeed they probably did. They tried to drive him out of business - "Cut out the middle man" as English said.

Peters was in the prime seat again and he decided Ardern was going to be the next Prime Minister and now the Nats have to grapple with themselves.

I would imagine you'd see big changes come within the National Party over the next 12 months as a number of MPs chuck in the towel.