New Zealand opposition leader Simon Bridges has been secretly recorded calling one of his own lawmakers “fucking useless” and making other questionable remarks, as turmoil in the conservative National Party escalated yesterday.
Bridges said he has apologized to Legislator Maureen Pugh for making the inappropriate comment, adding that he has no intention of resigning after a former close colleague accused him of corruption, initiated a police investigation and posted the embarrassing telephone conversation on Facebook.
The events of this week have been startling to many New Zealanders, who are accustomed to a restrained brand of politics.
Observers say that such venomous infighting is almost unprecedented.
Lawmaker Jami-Lee Ross on Tuesday resigned after saying Bridges was corrupt because he hid a donation from a wealthy Chinese businessman by arranging for it to be split into smaller amounts to avoid it being publicly disclosed.
Bridges denies the charge.
Ross yesterday went to the police with what he claimed was evidence before posting the conversation with Bridges.
During the conversation, Ross tells Bridges that two men, including Zhang Yikun (張乙坤), have donated NZ$100,000 (US$65,820) and had expressed interest in having another ethnic Chinese lawmaker.
“Two Chinese would be nice, but would it be one Chinese and one Filipino, or what do we do?” Bridges asks.
He talks about a possible “mercenary cull” and how he would like two or three lawmakers to leave, including Pugh.
Bridges said that while he might have been blunt, he was simply trying to reflect growing diversity in the community.
“I’m not perfect, as that conversation shows. Perhaps I’m something of a rough diamond sometimes,” Bridges said. “But I sleep well at night because I’ve got my integrity.”
He said Ross had been trying to set him up and might have been secretly recording him for months.
“He’s a terrible person,” Bridges said.
Ross said he believes Bridges had broken electoral laws and had handed over evidence to police.
He said he recorded the conversation because he was uncomfortable about the donations.
In a statement, police said they had received a complaint and would provide any relevant updates in a timely manner.
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
RSS