The Loss of the Don

The master of the Political flip flops has flipped his last flop as leader of the somewhat lost National party. Don Brash stepped down today as leader of the party after months of fighting off rumours of leadership challenges and speculation that his leadership was in doubt.

Well, now its gone. Dubbed by his former Chief of Staff as the nations political Mr Magoo, here is a short chronology of some of his biggest flip flops.

• Says he went easy on political rival Helen Clark in a television debate because she's a woman.
• Tells a United States delegation a National government would get rid of New Zealand's iconic ban on nuclear powered ships by "lunchtime".
• Says that if he had been in US President George W Bush's shoes he too would have sent troops to Iraq.
• Holds a press conference on leaked National emails without proper knowledge of their contents - or even taking a copy of the emails with him.
• Later in the same week allows himself to be photographed symbolically walking a plank.
• Is photographed trying to awkwardly clamber into a stockcar - despite questions having been asked about whether he is too old to be prime minister.
• Denies any knowledge of the Exclusive Brethren's anti-Labour and anti-Green election pamphlets but later admits he met with them both before and after the election. Some of his senior MPs say the "whiff of association" with the Brethren hurt National's chances of winning the election.
• Sparks post-election leadership debate himself by making confusing statements over whether he wants to stay on as leader of the National Party. (couldnt make up his mind)
• Attacks the Labour Party in areas where he is himself vulnerable, such as the sanctity of marriage despite his having admitted to having an affair and not denying another.
• After being attacked by one of his MPs at a caucus meeting over his fitness to lead the party given rumours about his personal life, he confirms the troubles and sparks a media hunt by issuing a statement that his marriage is in difficulty.
• Upsets Maori by questioning whether Maori remained a distinct indigenous people given there were "few, if any, fully Maori" left.
• Gets an interim injunction preventing the publication of emails he said were stolen from his personal computer. That stops Nicky Hager's book from being published, but makes it look like he has something to hide, so he does a U-turn to let the book be published.

So...There it is. Don Brash, former Reserve Bank Governer, (appointed there by the way by a Labour Government back in the 80's, leader of the opposition for just over 3 years, now...will likely take a backbench or middle bench position.