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Act leader Don Brash - Source: Getty -
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John Banks has revived his political career with victory in the Epsom electorate but it's all over for leader Don Brash.
The seat has secured a political future for both Banks and the party but after their poor showing overall has forced the party's new leader to resign.
Banks, who only joined the party in May, won by almost 2500 votes but Act failed to secure enough votes to bring in any other MPs.
Brash stood down while the votes were still being counted.
"I decided I would do that if we failed...I expected the failure to be the loss of Epsom, in fact we didn't lose Epsom but clearly it's not really tenable to remain leader when John Banks is our only Member of Parliament."
Brash said he believes Banks would make "an excellent minister" given his six years as a National minister in the 90s.
And Brash said although it would be over to the party board, it make sense for Banks to be party leader.
Prime Minister-elect John Key signalled his supporters should back Banks' candidacy over a controversial cup of tea in Epsom two weeks ago.
After a text from Key today, Banks will be flying to Wellington tomorrow for talks.
Banks said a priority for Act is to "preserve New Zealand's economic sovereignty and get young people into work".
Banks believes the teacup saga helped get him back into parliament.
And while the party won a lowly share of the vote, Brash is still hailing it as a win, despite it meaning the end of his political career.
The right-wing party which won the electorate and four list seats in 2008 with 3.65% support, only mustered 1.1% of the party vote last night, just 0.1% ahead of Hone Harawira's Mana party.
But on TVNZ's Q + A programme this morning, Brash disagreed with interviewer Guyon Espiner that the result was an "unmitigated disaster" for Act.
"No, it was not," he said.
"We won the seat of Epsom despite all the pollsters and pundits saying we couldn't retain that seat".
Brash says the "perception" that Banks couldn't hold Epsom was the reason for Act's poor result. He stopped short of blaming the media but said people decided not to give their party vote to Act with the expectation that it would be wasted.
Act's demise seems to have been the Conservatives gain with the new right-leaning party picking up 2.8% of the party vote.
Brash has resigned as leader of Act following the poor result but disagreed on Q + A today that Act was "a spent force" and commended Banks for his campaigning.
"Banks campaigned hard for the Act party policies and principles and I think he'll be a great standard-bearer for the Act party in Parliament," he said.
Banks called Brash's resignation a 'gracious' thing to do and said the former National party leader was clearly disappointed with Act's result.
The Epsom MP says Brash put in a lot of hard work, and the reason Act did not get more votes was because the media wrote it off.
Banks said if he had believed everything the media said during the campaign he would not have bothered getting out of bed every day.
Banks finished with a majority of 2485 over National's Paul Goldsmith with Labour's David Parker trailing far behind.
Act's future
Brash says he remains committed to helping Act but sees the need for young blood to come through the ranks.
"I think Act is the right party on the centre-right. It's got the right principles. It is the only party on the political spectrum which says that our problems are too much government, too much bureaucracy," he told Q + A.
Last night, he confirmed to returning Prime Minister John Key that Act would support National. He said they did not discuss a possible ministerial position for Banks but he thinks it's "a good prospect" considering Banks' previous experience.
He said they will be monitoring a detailed confidence and supply agreement and Act is "desperately concerned" about the state of the economy.
Brash says his own political career is over.
"I have no plans to come back," he told Espiner.
"I was heartened to see the new Prime Minister of Egypt is 78 but I don't plan to come back".
Brash was Reserve Bank Governor for over a decade and leader of the National party from 2003-2006.
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Post new commentadeej said on 2011-11-27 @ 17:15 NZDT: Report abusive post
Any electorate where the winning margin is under 1000 votes could easily change with special votes. That means Auck. Central (535), Chch Central (0), Waimakariri (395), Waitakere (349), Tamaki Makarau (746), Te Tai Tokerau (874)
Churchur said on 2011-11-27 @ 15:04 NZDT: Report abusive post
Dear One News, Please start reporting the facts. Namely, that 5 seats are undecided and that they traditionally fall to the left. If labour manages to get the Maori party to switch, then Labour are in. Analyse that please.
cueboy said on 2011-11-27 @ 11:38 NZDT: Report abusive post
Well New Zealand you have got what you voted for, now you suffer the dire consequences. You dont sell the family silver to pay off debt. And you just watch when all the policys that National has said it will adopt come to fruition, you will be sorry you adopted mmp. One United Future Mp joke.One Act Party MP even sicker joke. Still you get what you vote for good luck, and when the chickens come home to roost, think hard on what you have done.Welcome back Winston.
Aha said on 2011-11-27 @ 11:23 NZDT: Report abusive post
John Key has led a strong Govt during the World Financial Crisis, Christchurch Earthquake which cost millions + much more; it shows what a good job John Key has done to keep this Country Stable. Being open to work with MMP partners gives an across the board shows his open mind and is a voice for all NZers. A fantastic outcome for NZ all round.
redhat said on 2011-11-27 @ 10:33 NZDT: Report abusive post
Maybe, If there was a party with policies that were actually different, We might have someone to vote for. I'll tick the box, None of the Above, ONLY IT'S MISSING !!! Labour National and NZ first, are all the same, and think only of themselves, Greens are loonies, as is Maori, and Mana, (yep, Apartied works in NZ right?) and the rest are washed out, so Why bother. NZ is in a hole, and getting deeper. so why bother, supporting more of the same.