The National Party is "reliving nightmares of 2020", says 1 NEWS political reporter Maiki Sherman, as is grapples with controversies surrounding MP Nick Smith and failed election candidate Jake Bezzant.
Smith said this week he's ending his decades-long political career, after being told a Parliamentary Services inquiry into a verbal altercation he had with a staffer was going to be leaked.
Leader Judith Collins insists she did not tell Smith to go, but said she was aware of the issue.
A former partner of Bezzant has accused him of using explicit images to impersonate her online.
Bezzant, who ran unsuccessfully in the Upper Harbour electorate at last year's election and has remained close to the party since, is accused of impersonating a former partner online and sharing nude images of her.
His formal association with the party ended this week.
After three leadership changes and a number of scandals involving MPs, the party had hoped 2021 would be better, but Sherman says it doesn't appear to be the case.
"You could say National is simply reliving nightmares of 2020 with this one. Last year it had to get rid of a number of MPs for behaving badly, it went through a terrible election result," she explained last night.
"So 2021 was really supposed to be about regaining the momentum, getting back on track, but you could say after today's events and those of the last few days, in fact, they could be back at square one."
Hamish Walker and Andrew Falloon were among those to have departed the party under a cloud last year.
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