Stuart Nash has resigned as a New Zealand First candidate after privately calling National MP Katie Nimon lazy for taking maternity leave. The comments were condemned across Parliament, and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon personally weighed in.

NZ First leader Winston Peters announced the resignation on his Facebook page late on Wednesday night. "Stuart Nash has offered his resignation as a candidate and we have accepted," Peters wrote. Nash confirmed he was withdrawing on Thursday, saying he had talked it over with NZ First leadership.

The trouble started with a private message Nash sent about Nimon, who is National's MP for Napier. He said she was lazy for taking nine months off at full pay. Nimon had actually taken six months' maternity leave after having a baby. MPs from across Parliament condemned the comments as sexist on the Wednesday before the resignation was announced.

Luxon was blunt. He called Nash's comments "sexist" and said Nash was "channelling the manosphere" — meaning online spaces known for being hostile towards women. The Prime Minister also said on social media that Nash would not serve as a minister in any government he leads.

Nash used to be a Labour government minister before switching to NZ First. He said the private message had become a "significant distraction" and he did not want it to cost NZ First or the people of Napier the campaign they deserved.

This was not the first time Nash's comments about women had caused problems. In September 2025, he resigned from his job at recruitment agency Robert Walters after a formal review was launched into separate comments he had made about women.

Nash was trying to win the Napier seat, which Nimon currently holds for National. His comments about her maternity leave touched on a sensitive mix of gender, workplace rights and campaign behaviour.

Luxon's intervention was notable for how direct it was. In New Zealand, the Prime Minister decides who gets to be a minister, even when other parties in the coalition suggest candidates. By publicly ruling Nash out of any ministerial job, Luxon made it very difficult for Nash to stay on as a candidate, no matter what NZ First decided. Peters accepted the resignation the same day MPs condemned the comments.

For NZ First, losing Nash means losing a well-known candidate with government experience, but one who also brought a lot of controversy. His move from Labour minister to NZ First candidate was unusual to begin with. The party will now need to find someone else to run for Napier.

The broader context here is about how Parliament treats MPs who take time off to have children. Maternity leave is a legal right, not a personal choice to avoid work. Nash calling Nimon "lazy" for taking time off after childbirth was criticised not just for being inaccurate but for treating a legal entitlement as if it were a personal failing. That is what prompted MPs from different parties to speak out against him on Wednesday.

Nash saying he did not want the matter to be a "significant distraction" suggests he accepted the controversy had made it too hard for him to campaign. Whether NZ First can restart its Napier campaign without him is something the party will need to sort out in the coming days.

The resignation was announced on July 22, 2026.