Labour leader Chris Hipkins puts money on returning as Prime Minister

Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Labour leader Chris Hipkins is so confident he will return to the role of Prime Minister after the next election he’s putting money on it.

Hipkins, who served as Prime Minister for about 10 months last year, discussed his position in a recent poll during an appearance on Newstalk ZB on Wednesday.

A 1-News Verian poll out this week found he was the preferred Prime Minister of 15% of respondents – down 3 points – while Christopher Luxon was the choice of 25%, also down 3 points. Labour sat at 29%, up from its election result of 26.91%.

On the question of whether Hipkins should remain as the Labour leader or step down, 54% of respondents said he should stay, a little over a quarter said he should go and 20% didn’t know or would not say.

After ZB host Nick Mills suggested Hipkins would not stay on as leader, Hipkins said he would stay “through to the next election and I intend to win it”. He was so confident he said he would “put money on it”.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

Hipkins and Mills initially put $100 to charity on the question of whether Hipkins would still be leader at the next election, with Hipkins betting he “absolutely” would be.

“Not only that, Nick, when I come back as Prime Minister again, you can double it,” Hipkins said.

Mills then suggested giving $1000 to charity if Hipkins became Prime Minister again.

“Let’s go $1000 if you become Prime Minister, that’s how brave I am,” Mills said.

“To our favourite charity, not to each other, so we are not looking like we are gambling. So $1000 if you come back as Prime Minister at the next election.”

Hipkins said: “Good as gold”.

Mills suggested the Wellington Saints Basketball team might be a good recipient, but Hipkins said it had to be a “charity, not a sports team”.

On the general direction of recent polls, Hipkins said they “don’t mean a hell of a lot at this point in the electoral cycle”.

“Overall, Labour’s support has increased since the election, that is a good thing. My numbers have gone down a bit, but you’d expect that. I am not the Prime Minister now. I am not as visible as I was then, and also being the Leader of the Opposition is a more negative and a more critical role. I am not that worried about that.”