Fresh-faced National

Bill English has announced his retirement...well, as good as. He's not standing for Clutha/Southland next year and his accolytes have been smoothing over the obvious signs of his plans to do a runner from politics. Armchair Critic, as you'd expect, is onto it and him and has this to say about the present Government's pruning programme:

Good on National for creating the opportunity for some new faces.
Let’s not get too carried away about the reasons, which are not nearly as pretty as you (Ele Ludmann) portray them. The truth of the matter is that National are well aware that the last election result was the best they will have for quite a while. Possibly decades. This means after the next election there will be fewer National Party MPs. Getting some to “retire” reduces (but cannot eliminate) the disquiet you and I know is going on in the lower ranks.
Bill English’s move will be interpreted by anyone with political nous as a sign that the ship of government is about to sink. It means that he can exit quietly from the opposition benches and move back home to Treasury, or a few comfortable directorships in companies I’ll have to selly shares in (after what he did to Solid Energy). Exiting quietly is an honourable thing to do, because it avoids the cost of a by-election that no one else needs to contest.
I’d not be looking at a contrast with Labour yet, either. They’ll probably start announcing their “renewal” close to the election, to add to their momentum going into it. From this perspective I think National have mis-timed their announcements, this is about six months too early, unless a May election is planned.
Labour also have a fresh face as leader, against an increasingly tired looking PM. From that perspective 2014 will look kind of like 2008, but with the colours reversed.

Pretty good assessment there, AC.