Christopher Luxon, David Seymour attempt to hose down any suggestion of rift

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (right) and Act leader David Seymour say they had a constructive meeting. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Act Party leader David Seymour spent today attempting to hose down any suggestion of a rift between the two political leaders, claiming they have a constructive relationship and any differences shouldn’t be blown out of proportion.

The public flare-up that erupted on Monday afternoon saw Luxon and Seymour criticising each other’s actions. The Prime Minister said it was “ill-advised” for Seymour to write to police in 2022 advocating for Philip Polkinghorne, a suspect in his wife’s murder. The Act leader said those comments were themselves “ill-advised”.

Labour’s Chris Hipkins likened the tit-for-tat between the two to potshots former Labour Prime Minister David Lange and minister Richard Prebble took at each other in the 1980s and called on the Prime Minister to sack Seymour for interfering in a police investigation.

Luxon, however, on Tuesday said he retained confidence in his soon-to-be deputy.

“As Prime Minister, I’m responsible for the conduct of my ministers and my Government. I expressed my view and position around the letter and I did so with David, but the reality is, that was a letter sent before the Government was formed, before he was a minister.”

The duo met for a conversation on Monday night described by both as being positive and constructive, though neither would address what exactly was discussed.

“We had a good constructive meeting last night, not going into the details of that,” Luxon said. “I’m frankly focused on other things. I don’t think too deeply about David Seymour.”

The Prime Minister said the pair had worked well together in government and were “focused on making sure we deliver economic growth”.

Speaking separately, Seymour also said he believed his relationship with Luxon was “very strong, very constructive” and denied he was undermining the Prime Minister.

“It’s fair for people to have different views and still work together very strongly. Actually, that’s healthy. What is unhealthy is groupthink. I think we need more civil disagreement and more people with different views to be able to work together better.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he had a constructive meeting with David Seymour. Photo / Mark Mitchell

He said he didn’t want to have more disagreement, but “if you stand for things then disagreements are an inevitable result”.

“The question is how you handle it and I actually think Chris and I do a very good job, bearing in mind that we actually agree on probably 80%.”

Seymour said he believed the political system in New Zealand was maturing, allowing different parties in government to express different views.

Other ministers the Herald spoke to also dismissed concerns the disagreement threatened to create instability in the coalition.

National’s Chris Bishop said he agreed with Luxon that Seymour’s letter was ill-advised. But he did not think “we should get too worked up about this”.

“I would characterise it as a disagreement,” Bishop said.

The Herald put it to him that Seymour was airing that out in public, to which Bishop said: “Sure, welcome to politics.

“We live in a robust democracy. That’s life. We shouldn’t get too worked up about this. It’s a disagreement, that’s fine. We live in an MMP environment. Political parties that make up the Government have different views. That’s always been the case.”

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said Seymour and Luxon would “disagree from time to time”.

Asked if she was concerned about a perception of instability within the Government, Willis said: “We have a functional Cabinet that is making policy reform at pace, that is committed to the same objectives, and we are delivering.”

Seymour’s letter was sent to police in April 2022, prior to Polkinghorne being charged with murder, which he was later acquitted of. The Act leader said he was sharing a constituent’s concerns.

David Seymour has defended his position. Photo / Dean Purcell

Meanwhile, Seymour wrote to Speaker Gerry Brownlee apologising for attempting to drive a Land Rover up Parliament’s steps on Monday as part of a charity event. A security guard intervened, an action commended by Brownlee in the House.

“I doubt he would ever have expected to have to tell a member of the House not to drive a vehicle on to the steps of the building, particularly given that it was a repeat of the 2003 event and in light of the enhanced security arrangements that Parliament has since put in place.”

Brownlee said there were no Standing Order – Parliament’s rules – that could support referring Seymour to the Privileges Committee, but he had made his views clear to the Act leader.

“I’ve expressed to Mr Seymour my strong displeasure in his actions and my concern in his belief that MPs should be able to do what he did is a right; they do not.

“Mr Seymour has sent me a letter about the matter in which he says: ‘Please accept my apologies for any offence this may have caused.’”

Brownlee said it was up to police whether to prosecute. The police said the matter was “being managed by Parliamentary Services and is not currently a police matter”.

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.