National needs to bring those people back into the fold, but some will find Luxon's conservatism - he opposes voluntary euthanasia and abortion law reform - off-putting.

He may profess that his faith is 'not itself a political agenda' but there is still the question of how some of Luxon's views will play with the liberal wing of the party's base, a number of whom defected to Labour in 2020. Some of the other stakes Luxon put in the ground may prove more contentious, not least his religious beliefs. Sure, there's John Key - but there's also Donald Trump.) (Although one should be wary of assuming a successful private sector career necessarily translates into a decent political one. In it he referred to his years with Unilever and Air New Zealand, which will play well to the party faithful. His maiden parliamentary speech provides a few helpful insights. Top of the list will be introducing himself to the country's voters, to whom he is not well known. Luxon has work to do and not long to do it. You suspect there will be moments in the weeks ahead when he will think back fondly on his days at Air New Zealand.

Luxon takes on the role of leader of Her Majesty's Opposition - the sixth since Jacinda Ardern took the reins across the political aisle (or seventh if you count Nikki Kaye's day-long stint between Todd Muller and Judith Collins) - at a time when the toughest of all political gigs is as hard as it has ever been.įrom his new office he will confront a global pandemic that has just taken an unwelcome turn (meaning media attention will quickly shift elsewhere), a battle-hardened prime minister with 13 years' parliamentary experience (compared with Luxon's 12 months), a fractured caucus and a floundering party organisation. Hands up if you know anything about Christopher Luxon other than he was once CEO of Air New Zealand, he's been hailed as the new John Key, and he's the MP for Botany.

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