Roger Bridge

It was reported on Friday that Roger Bridge resigned from the National Party Board on Friday after the revelations that (presumably) he made a phone call to late night talkback pretending to be Merv from Manurewa, and was critical of one of the people seeking National’s nomination for Auckland Central.

Resigning from the Board is the appropriate thing to do. The phone call was intolerable from any party official, let alone a board member. It was a stupid thing to do, and also politically pointless. What is the chance that one of the 60 party delegates would be listening to Marcus Lush that evening and be influenced by that phone call?

And it was very unfair to the nominee in Auckland Central to have a board member acting in such a way. We need to support nominees.

So the resignation is necessary. But I don’t think people should judge Roger by what may have been one moment of madness. Roger has worked unpaid for National for around 15 years as both a Regional Chair and a Party Director. He has made an enormous voluntary contribution and has been a good friend and mentor to many party activists and candidates.

A US journalist John Dickerson often says we should not judge people for the worst thing they have done in their lives, but for their overall contribution. I strongly agree.