House Speaker Trevor Mallard has revealed he wouldn't want to spend lockdown with Health Minister Chris Hipkins due to his fondness of sausage rolls and Diet Coke.
Mallard, in a conversation with former National Party deputy leader Paula Bennett who is hosting Magic Talk radio, was asked who he thinks would be the worst person to spend COVID-19 lockdown with.
"Well, I have heard a response on this before from Simon Bridges who nominated me and I was slightly tempted to reciprocate, but actually, he can be quite good fun, and he does a very good rendition of one of the songs of my era, 'Love Me Tender'," Mallard said.
He said Bridges, who once led the National Party with Bennett as his deputy before being rolled in May by former leader Todd Muller, "mightn't be that bad".
The pair have a history of going at each other during exchanges in Parliament when Bridges was leader of the Opposition - Mallard going so far as to call Bridges a "smart arse" in 2018.
Mallard instead picked someone from his own Labour Party - MP for Remutaka Chris Hipkins.
"Chris Hipkins appears to eat nothing much more than sausage rolls and Diet Coke," Mallard said. "He's very bossy - he'd want to be in charge ordering the food and I couldn't stand eating sausage rolls during lockdown so I nominate Chris Hipkins."
Bennett conceded, "Yeah, that's very fair."
Hipkins does have a reputation for eating sausage rolls and drinking Diet Coke.
Back in 2016, Hipkins, along with Labour's Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson and Clare Curran, were interviewed by Stuff about their fitness levels in preparation for a 50km trail walk for charity.
Robertson said at the time, "I am concerned about Chris Hipkins being away from sausage rolls and Coke Zero for that long."
Four years on, Stuff political reporter Henry Cooke snapped a picture of Hipkins in June with his "traditional Coke Zero" at a select committee appearance.
Bennett had high praise for Hipkins about how he has communicated with the public about the latest COVID-19 outbreak in Auckland.
"Chris Hipkins, in my opinion, the way he's been fronting this week and I've seen him on a number of different news media and fronting up and I feel giving straight forward answers as he can, it does make us all feel a bit better when we've got that."
Bennett also interviewed Bridges, who this time did not nominate Mallard as the person who he'd least like to spend lockdown with, because his wife Natalie told him Mallard didn't choose him during his interview.
"I'm not going to say Trevor or Winston [Peters] or something... Natalie told me Trevor was very charitable to me and actually he could be quite good fun."
Bridges instead chose the former National MP he publicly feuded with back in 2018 - Jami-Lee Ross, who accused him of being a "corrupt politician".
"Jami-Lee Ross. I just don't think there'd be a lot of small talk there. If I'm being honest, no I can't see that going well," Bridges said.
Bennett said it was "actually a very fair" answer.
Bridges added, "It's probably just slightly too honest and I don't know if it's too soon but I just don't think that would go well."
Ross alleged in 2018 that Bridges had committed electoral fraud by asking him to split up a $100,000 donation from Chinese businessman Zhang Yikun into smaller amounts, so they could be hidden from the Electoral Commission.
Bridges denied the allegations and he is not facing any charges following a Serious Fraud Office investigation. Ross is facing charges, along with three others.
