Chris Bishop had been expected to shed a few ministerial portfolios. Instead he lost the job he liked most. When Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced his election-year Cabinet reshuffle on April 2, 2026, National’s campaign chair role went to Simeon Brown, and Bishop’s place as Leader of the House passed to Louise Upston. Bishop was given the Attorney-General portfolio.
RNZ reported that Bishop had been widely tipped to give up some ministerial work to free him for the campaign. Luxon’s explanation was workload. Between housing, transport, infrastructure, resource management reform and now the attorney-general’s office, Bishop had what Luxon called a “massive workload,” and giving up the campaign chair followed from that. The two had a “very positive conversation,” Luxon said, and he “absolutely” trusted Bishop: “He’s key to our team, he’s a critical part of our senior leadership group.”
Rumours and reaction
Reporters asked whether the move was payback for talk last year that Bishop had been counting votes against the leader. Luxon denied it. “I think you’re really overthinking this,” he said. Brown, he added, could run the campaign just as well. He sits in a “brains trust” with Bishop, Upston, Paul Goldsmith and Nicola Willis, the finance minister.
Bishop took it with a laugh. “Obviously I love being the campaign chair, and it’s a role I enjoy doing, but it’s fine – I’ve got plenty of things to do,” he said. He said he was not disappointed and had long wanted to work in public law. He expected to stay involved in campaign preparation anyway, because it would be “impossible to hold the portfolios I have without being involved in an important way in the campaign.” Upston said the Attorney-General’s brief would keep him “incredibly busy.”
The reshuffle reached further. Chris Penk and Penny Simmonds moved up to Cabinet, with Penk taking over defence, space and the GCSB and NZSIS portfolios from the retiring Judith Collins. Brown handed his Auckland portfolio to Simon Watts and took energy in exchange. Only National ministers were affected, B2B News noted, so ACT’s Brooke van Velden kept her roles.
Brown on the stump
By the party’s annual conference in Lower Hutt, Brown was campaigning as National’s chairman and making the case for the party vote. The NZ Herald reported that he told delegates a household had “two kids” who “get on fine with Mum and Dad, but not always with each other,” with National as the parents keeping the peace. The two kids, in his telling, were NZ First and Act. The bickering, he said, was “just a distraction,” and energy went into “refereeing” instead of “building the family’s future.”
His message was blunt: “A party vote for New Zealand First grows New Zealand First. A party vote for Act grows Act. Neither grows National.” ACT leader David Seymour, quoted by the Herald, said he was surprised and preferred more working together and “less of that kind of bickering.” Winston Peters replied on social media: “National doesn’t need to worry about NZ First. National needs to worry about National.”
Sources
- Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announces election-year Cabinet reshuffle (RNZ)
- Luxon unveils election-year cabinet reshuffle (B2B News)
- Election 2026: Simeon Brown compares NZ First and Act to children at National's conference (NZ Herald)
- Election 2026: Simeon Brown compares NZ First and Act to children (NZ Herald, continued)
