Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke to former leader Sir John Key over the weekend amid leadership speculation arising from a poll showing National in the position of losing a quarter of its caucus.
The former Prime Minister has previously acknowledged their close relationship and that Luxon “largely rings me [and] I largely listen”. He would provide Luxon with advice on what changes he could make, Key said.
Speaking to the Herald on Tuesday, Key wouldn’t divulge what the pair discussed over the weekend but confirmed the conversation, while Luxon said they talked about golf.
“He’s playing very good golf apparently,” the Prime Minister said.
Asked if they chatted about the poll results, Luxon repeated they had spoken about golf.
Key said their conversation hadn’t been lengthy and included “nothing of great significance”.
“I talk to him all the time,” he told the Herald, not wishing to elaborate any further.
As the Herald wrote last week, if Luxon was going to take advice from anyone amid speculation over his leadership, it would be Key.
The former National leader, who was Prime Minister between 2008 and 2016, has previously spoken of his relationship with the current premier.
At a Deloitte-hosted event in Auckland in July last year, Key said he was close to Luxon.
“I don’t try to be his father, like I don’t try to tell him what to do. He’s in the job. He lives and breathes it. There’s always a backstory to everything that goes on. I’ve been there and done that,” he said.
“He largely rings me, I largely listen, and occasionally I’ll say, ‘I think you need to do this’ or ‘I think it’s worth thinking about this’ or ‘maybe you might make some changes’ or whatever.”
A message he gave to Luxon at one point was, “you’ve got to understand, it’s the economy, stupid... the only thing that matters is the economy. They don’t have to love you”.
Key said: “A lot of people who voted for my Government didn’t love me and didn’t particularly love my Government. I wish they did, but I don’t think they did.”
Luxon has hosed down leadership speculation in recent days after the Herald revealed on Friday the National Party had sunk to its lowest point on the Taxpayers’ Union poll since Luxon took the leadership in late 2021.
The results showed National on 28.4%, only a few points higher than its disastrous 25.58% at the 2020 election. If converted into seats in the House, it means the party would lose 12 of the 48 seats it won at the last election.
National MPs were behind Luxon on Tuesday, with no one publicly raising any suggestion of an immediate coup against him.
Several, however, noted the party needed to step up its game.
Among them was Education Minister Erica Stanford, who is often discussed as a potential replacement for Luxon, though she had dismissed that.
She said it had been a “bad week for the National Party and our caucus”.
“We’ve got to do better all of us together, pull together and remember our focus is on the New Zealand people,” Stanford said.
While other MPs put on a brave face around party polling, Stanford said “of course not” when asked if she was happy with where the polls currently sat.
“We’ve got to respect what voters are telling us. They’re telling us they want us to be better. We want to be better. We have got a lot of hard work to do.
“At the moment I’m focusing on the major reform of our education [system],” she said.
Asked if Luxon needed to be better, Stanford said: “We all need to be better, but I support him 100%.”
Making a similar point was Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey. He said Luxon was a “great leader” but National has “clearly got to do a lot better”.
“Politics is a team sport. All of us have got to lift our game.”
Vanessa Weenick, a National MP in the marginal seat of Banks Peninsula, said she wasn’t focused on her own job or seat, but on New Zealand “if we have an alternative Government”.
Asked if she was resigned to losing her seat, she said: “No, I am fighting hard for it.”
Tama Potaka, another National minister, said he supported Luxon.
Asked if he wished to be the leader, he repeatedly said he had “no intention” to run for the top job.
But despite being asked several times, he didn’t rule out an eventual bid.
“It’s got nothing to do with me. I support the Prime Minister and I support this great party, the National Party.”
Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald’s chief political reporter, based in the press gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.