Judith Collins refuses to be drawn on leadership plans

Judith Collins. File photo / APN

Justice Minister Judith Collins is refusing to be drawn on her leadership aspirations after a recent poll found 11 per cent of people thought she should be the next leader of the National Party should John Key stand down.

The One News Colmar Brunton poll found that Mr Key was still by far the preferred Prime Minister with 41 per cent support.

But should he step aside after the next election, 23 per cent thought Finance Minister Bill English should replace him as National Party leader, 16 per cent thought it should be Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce, and 11 per cent thought Ms Collins.

Speaking on TVNZ's Q + A programme this morning, Ms Collins refused to be drawn on whether she thought she should be leader should Mr Key step down.

"What I want is for John Key to be the leader after the next election," she said.

"After John Key, well, that's a matter for caucus. And, of course, caucus has quite a number of people in it who have tremendous leadership potential."

She said she did try to display leadership attributes like courage and integrity in her work.

"... I'm not here to eat my lunch, and that's for certain. I'm here to lead the justice sector, and I'm very keen to do that.

"But at the moment, we've got the best leader that I've ever worked with," she said.