Beehive Diaries: What did John Key donate to National Party charity auction

Gerry Brownlee getting into the spirit. Photo / Facebook

The big political event this week wasn’t in Wellington, but in Hamilton, which was hosting Fieldays, the agricultural show.

There’s nothing quite like troops of MPs and their staff emerging bleary-eyed from the Koru lounge doing their darndest to impress upon the agricultural sector how important it is to the New Zealand economy.

Thank heavens Parliament still has some farmers.

Act’s Mark Cameron beat National’s Tim van de Molen in a tractor race, raising money for Rural Support Trust.

Credit to van de Molen for taking him on - his colleague David Bennett would not!

Brownlee getting into the spirit

It’s Christmas time in Parliament. Monday will mark the beginning of the last three-week sitting block of the year (thank goodness).

National’s Gerry Brownlee, known about Parliament for his cookery and gardening skills, got into the spirit early, posting to Facebook that he’d been busy in the kitchen making a delicious looking Christmas cake that he is currently auctioning to raise money for the Black Ops Charity Shop.

Bidding started at $104 and as of Friday evening, bids stood at $400 (thankfully, Brownlee offers free shipping on the cake).

For bidders looking to heed Adrian Orr’s advice and have a sensibly spending Christmas, Brownlee helpfully posted a video to Facebook including the recipe for the cake.

Key-ping good company

National held a fundraising dinner on Wednesday night at the Hilton Hotel in Auckland.

About 300 people paid $1500 a head to attend. The party’s coffers swelled further thanks to an auction.

The event was organised by former deputy leader and deputy prime minister Paula Bennett, who has been fundraising aggressively for the party this year.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown showed up, sitting at the table of none other than former leader and prime minister John Key.

Christopher Luxon was there, celebrating one year of leading the party. Deputy leader Nicola Willis was MC.

Key, keen to help his party, donated a helicopter ride and round of golf at Tara Iti.

Key, who has been learning to fly and recently purchased a helicopter, promised he would not be the pilot.