Richard Harman

Why would you have a fiscal strategy without a fiscal plan? Can you see this is slightly confusing, isn't it? I mean, there's so many questions you can't answer.

Richard Harman yesterday was asking you a very simple question about operating, uh, sorry, budget operating allowances, right? So this government is setting $2.4 billion a year, which is tight.

He's suggesting that in order to do the things that you have to do, you'll have to spend more.

You couldn't answer the question.

the fact that it was happening again so soon made it an even bigger story.

And that night, Richard Harman went on nights on RNZ National and said he thought it was game over for the Prime Minister, and the Post prepared a front-page story

for Wednesday which said this.

If Christopher Luxon fails to secure the backing of his caucus in a crunch meeting today, National MPs are expected to turn to a leadership contest.

By then, his name had been circulating for two days as one of the MPs trying to drum up support for a coup.

The veteran political journalist Richard Harman was the first to identify Chris Penk on his Politik website, claiming the MP had been ringing around his colleagues on behalf of a prospective challenger.

But exactly who that challenger was was contested.

Some sources said Erica Stanford, others Chris Bishop.

[laughs]

Um, yeah, my phone lit up.

It's mostly journalists, [laughs] actually.

Um, uh, look, I don't know.