What's going on with Christopher Luxon's job as Prime Minister?

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon refused to speak to reporters as he arrived at Wellington Airport ahead of a meeting with his National Party MPs on Wednesday morning (RNZ). The meeting was called to deal with talk that some of his own MPs want him replaced as leader, with the general election 90 days away.

The trigger was a report by the New Zealand Herald on Monday evening that National MPs were unhappy with Luxon. By Tuesday afternoon, Luxon had decided to call an urgent meeting for 9:30am Wednesday in Wellington, telling 1News it was to resolve "speculation about my leadership" (1News; New Zealand Herald). Luxon wrote that division and disunity were a major distraction and that the issue needed to be resolved quickly. He told reporters on Tuesday afternoon in Wellington, "talk to you tomorrow ... take care team" (RNZ).

National MPs cleared their schedules for Wednesday morning. Deputy leader Nicola Willis and senior MP Chris Bishop both cancelled planned interviews with RNZ's Morning Report (RNZ).

Luxon's grip on the leadership came under renewed scrutiny following a series of missteps and clashes with coalition partners. The most damaging was a comment he made on talkback radio last Thursday, when he said National would hold a referendum on MMP if elected back into power. MMP is the voting system New Zealand uses to elect governments. Luxon's own MPs were not told about the idea beforehand (RNZ; RNZ). Luxon said it was "quite right to check-in constitutionally" on whether MMP was still the system New Zealand wanted (RNZ). He later played down the promise, saying it was his job as party leader to make decisions in the moment (RNZ).

Chris Bishop threw his full support behind Luxon and warned colleagues against leaking to media (RNZ). MP James Meager said he "absolutely" had confidence in Luxon and denied reports that he was canvassing support for Bishop to take over as leader, saying he had had no conversations with fellow MPs about a leadership change in recent days. Senior MP Todd McClay described Luxon as "an excellent Prime Minister" and gave him his "one hundred percent support" (RNZ).

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown weighed in, describing Bishop as a "good bloke" but noting he faced competition for the leadership, including from Defence Minister Chris Penk. Brown also said he would like the New Zealand public to choose the prime minister "instead of Winston Peters doing it" (RNZ). 1News reported that former Prime Minister Sir John Key was making calls on Luxon's leadership (1News).

Labour's deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni said, "clearly they're not performing very well and there's unrest in the National party" (RNZ).

Luxon said the leadership issue must come to a head at once, ahead of November's election (1News; 1News).

This is not the first time Luxon has faced a challenge to his leadership. In April 2026, he survived a vote by his own MPs in what was described as a "cathartic" meeting. National MPs gathered in Wellington for the first time in three weeks after poor polling and continued speculation about his leadership. Following that earlier meeting, Stuff reported that Luxon left early at 12:36pm with Willis, then addressed reporters, saying he had the support of his caucus after moving a formal motion before the meeting. He repeated that he had his caucus's full support at least nine times during a six-minute media conference (Stuff; Stuff; 1News).

The broader context here is that these sorts of leadership challenges are fairly common under MMP, where parties often need coalition partners to govern. Calling an urgent meeting to settle the question, rather than letting speculation drag on through the news, is a deliberate choice. It forces MPs who are unhappy with the leader to either say so in front of their colleagues or fall into line. Willis and Bishop cancelling their Morning Report interviews suggests a coordinated effort to make sure no senior figure says something off-script before the meeting. Wayne Brown's comment about Winston Peters choosing the prime minister points to a wider worry within National about how much influence NZ First has over the government. The involvement of John Key, if accurate, would add pressure from the party's old guard. With the election 90 days out, the window for National to change leaders and present a united front is closing fast. Whether a formal vote in the room will be enough to settle things this time, or whether the leaks simply start again by the weekend, is the question that will dominate the Press Gallery in the coming hours.