The National Party's culture is under scrutiny after it was revealed MP Sam Uffindell was asked to leave a prestigious Auckland private school over 20 years ago after a violent nighttime attack on a younger student.
Details of the attack emerged after Uffindell's victim came forward on Monday. The victim said the National MP had contacted him last year to make amends. He'd accepted that apology until he saw Uffindell was running for Parliament and felt the apology wasn't genuine.
The victim was only 13 when the attack happened and it involved Uffindell and three other teens at King's College.
"I was covering my head … they were smashing me," the victim told Stuff.
"I don't remember much, but when it was over, everyone ran into the next dorm and lay down on the floor between the beds there to hide."
Uffindell said it was the "stupidest and dumbest thing" he's ever done and he's incredibly remorseful.
Speaking with media on Tuesday, National leader Christopher Luxon said he supports Uffindell and also defended the Party's selection process.
"He is not the same person that he was 22 years ago as a 16-year-old and I think, fundamentally, when you think about this place of Parliament and 120 MPs in it, it wouldn't be very full if we all had a perfect past," Luxon said.
Uffindell informed the National Party's pre-selection committee about the attack before he was selected as a candidate but Luxon said he was not notified.
"The thing that could've been different, frankly, is that I should've been informed rather than finding out yesterday. The second thing is, is that the delegates ultimately should've been informed.
"Most importantly, I think the voters in Tauranga should've been informed so that they could form their own judgement.
"I've had assurances that these are the only allegations and issues that we're aware of."
Luxon went on to say there was a "deep exploration" of Uffindell's past after the assault was disclosed to the selection panel.
"As I understand it, Sam genuinely made a very genuine apology and reached out to the individual concerned."
Luxon also said while it was a serious incident, "we're not talking about [a] criminal activity here".
"It's totally unacceptable and abhorrent... what we're saying here is I'm not condoning the behaviour at all, I've been really clear about that upfront… what I'm saying to you is Sam Uffindell has changed from the 16-year-old teenager that was expelled from school 20 years ago."
But less than two hours later at a stand-up, Uffindell conceded assaulting the boy was in fact a crime.
"Yes, I can appreciate that. Yep, yep it is (a crime)," he said.
It's not the first time the National Party's selection process has been scrutinised in recent years. In fact, the party has been dogged by several high-profile departures including, Jami-Lee Ross, Todd Barclay, Hamish Walker, Andrew Falloon and Jake Bezzant.
Jami-Lee Ross
Jami-Lee Ross' high-profile resignation from the party's caucus in 2018 came after he accused then National leader Simon Bridges of corruption. The messy saga saw Ross accuse Bridges of being involved in an electoral donation that broke the law. A high court trial over the donation began in July. Seven people, including Ross and three businessmen, are facing charges by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
Ross was also accused of harassing and bullying his staff. The revelations came to light after four women told Newsroom Ross was a narcissist who used "brutal sex" to "dig dirt" on others. Ross eventually admitted to having extramarital affairs with two women and apologised to his wife.
After standing down in disgrace, Ross launched his own party Advance New Zealand. In 2020, the short-lived political party teamed up with Billy Te Kahika's New Zealand Public Party - a conspiracy theory party that spread COVID-19 misinformation during the pandemic.
Todd Barclay
But Ross is far from the only skeleton in National's closet. Former National MP Todd Barclay was forced to stand down in disgrace in 2017 after it was alleged he'd secretly recorded a staff member during an employment dispute in his Clutha-Southland electorate office.
While Barclay initially denied making the recordings, he stepped down after a statement about the incident to police from then National Party leader Bill English was released. English told police Barclay had told him about the recordings.
Hamish Walker
Walker, who was National's Southland MP, stood down in July 2020 after he admitted to leaking confidential COVID-19 patient details over "pressure of being labelled a racist".
Shortly after Walker's revelation, ex-National Party president Michelle Boag confessed to passing on the data to Walker - information she said was made available to her as acting CEO of the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust.
Boag resigned from that role and stepped down from National Party deputy leader and then Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye's campaign committee.
At the time Walker apologised for how he handled the information, but he said he passed it on to the media to "expose the Government's shortcomings".
"The information that I received was not password protected by the Government. It was not stored on a secure system where authorised people needed to log on. There was no redaction to protect patient details, and no confidentiality statement on the document."
Andrew Falloon
In the same month, Andrew Falloon resigned as MP for Rangitata after he was accused of sending inappropriate images to several young women.
Falloon's resignation came after pressure from then National leader Judith Collins who was alerted to the images by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
In a statement at the time, Falloon said he had been dealing with "unresolved grief" following the recent suicide of a friend.
"I have made a number of mistakes and I apologise to those who have been affected," he said.
A police investigation was launched but ultimately found Falloon's actions didn't meet the threshold for prosecution.
"Whilst we acknowledge that the material sent was distressing for those who received the images, the investigation found that the actions did not meet the criminal threshold necessary to support a prosecution, and no criminal charges will be laid," a police spokesperson said.
"We have today advised the complainants of the outcome of our inquiry."
Jake Bezzant
The most recent scandal involved 2020 National candidate Jake Bezzant who resigned from the party in 2021 after serious allegations emerged from an ex-girlfriend.
Bezzant stepped away from the Party after the podcast Whips, Chains and Brains alleged he had been posing as his ex-girlfriend and sending inappropriate messages and images to strangers.
One of the hosts, Tarryn, said she was in a relationship with Bezzant and accused him of inappropriate behaviour.
"Jake Bezzant who is involved in the National Party in New Zealand used to impersonate me online and would make Snapchats and dating sites and things and would engage in, like, online sex as me and would send nude images and videos of me," she said.
"That was happening throughout the last two-and-a-half years but then we obviously split up and then I found out in the last few weeks that he's still doing it, so we kind of want to talk about it."
Bezzant told Newshub there were "two sides to every story" claiming break-ups "sometimes get messy".
"There is more than just her and I involved so I am not going to discuss it. This needs to be seen in the context of a relationship break-up.
"I am not going to put myself forward for candidacy at this point. Really enjoying being back in the private sector," he said. "I am no longer a member."
Merv from Manurewa
The National Party also found itself in hot water after it was revealed former board member Roger Bridge, aka 'Merv from Manurewa', called a talkback radio station and pretended to be someone he wasn't to undermine one of his party's own candidates.
Bridge resigned in 2020 after the allegations were made public.
'Merv' called into Marcus Lush's talkback show on August 3, 2020 just before midnight.
"Look I'm in Manurewa and I'm a bit confused because there's billboards all over the place with this Nuwi girl," 'Merv' told the talkback radio show.
'Merv' was confused that Nuwanthie 'Nuwi' Samarakone was National's Manurewa candidate but was also pitching to stand in Auckland Central to replace Nikki Kaye who resigned from politics in July 2020.
"She's already standing in Manurewa and I was ready to vote for her but now I understand she's going over to Auckland Central - I'm that confused."
He was seeding doubt about her candidacy and casually dropped in a line about a photograph.
"I'm that confused and then I have this photograph come through today."
An image of Somarakone in a leotard had been doing the rounds on social media, as well as false rumours that she was a stripper, thought to be part of a smear campaign headed by some in National - her own party - who didn't back her.
Newshub approached Bridge outside Parliament at the time and he insisted it wasn't him who called up Marcus Lush's show and pretended to be 'Merv'.
"Sorry, Merv? No. Roger Bridge," he said when asked if 'Merv' is his alter ego.
"It wasn't me."
But although Bridge denied it, several National Party sources, including MPs, listened to the audio and told Newshub 'Merv' and Roger Bridge are one and the same.
Newshub later discovered that Merv's talkback call came from Bridge's number.
