Luxon lets Uffindell go it alone

National’s Christopher Luxon has effectively thrown new MP Sam Uffindell to the wolves — and it may well end up saving him. After the news broke that Uffindell was kicked out of Kings College after beating up a third former when he was 16, Luxon told him to get out and front on it.

Uffindell was told to do every media interview he was asked for. The clear message: clean up your own mess.

He did them all alone, radio, television, websites, newspapers, saying over and over he was a teenage “thug” but was a changed man.

Then he was sent out to front a press conference yesterday where he took questions for a full 20 minutes until there were no more.

It is a move straight out of the Shane Jones’ Playbook for Penitents.

When Jones was caught with porn movies on his hotel bill, he did just that: a woeful figure who fronted time and time again.

It is not easy to execute — especially for a new MP, as

Uffindell is learning.

The news blindsided Luxon, who first heard about it on Monday morning.

Luxon was quite right to say he should have been told earlier.

He was also right that the delegates who selected Uffindell and voters should have been told.

If there is a chance something bad is going to come out, it pays to advise the leader so they can be judicious in what they say – Luxon sang Uffindell’s praises blind through the byelection and after.

It is not clear whether Luxon blames the party or Uffindell for keeping him in the dark.

Nobody, including MP Todd Mcclay, who was on the selection panel, saw fit to tell Luxon.

So Luxon had no appetite for making excuses for Uffindell.

He said Uffindell had work to do to rebuild the trust of the Tauranga voters.

He did not stand with him when Uffindell spoke to the media: Uffindell came out with only the party’s whip, Chris Penk, who stood silent throughout.

But Luxon is a Christian: “I believe in giving people a second chance and forgiveness,” he said.

It would also be disastrous for National to have to force a new MP to step down – and the cost of another byelection.

Uffindell will now have to wait to get reselected by National again for the 2023 election.

It may be considered unfair for the party to drop him in the next selection for his sins as a 16-yearold — after all, he did disclose it.

The only thing that’s changed is that the voters, too, now know of it.

Uffindell has admitted he bullied others, but he has assured Luxon none are as serious as the Kings College case. If more cases come out or examples of more recent bad behaviour emerge, Luxon will not be so forgiving.