David Seymour can't find a knife, jokes one of his MPs has it

With a team of MPs in Parliament with him for the first time during his leadership, David Seymour has expressed fears one of them might be planning to stab him in the back.

Not because he's heard any whispers of a coup - but because he recently couldn't find any knives. 

The ACT Party leader was at the Newshub Nation Christmas party on Saturday morning when he told host Simon Shepherd of his Alanis Morissette-esque predicament.

"If you look at the team we've brought in, a lot of the people say, 'Maybe we like David Seymour, maybe we don't' - but what about this team behind him? 

"And I was looking for a knife and fork to eat my fish and chips, as all good people do, and anyway, there's forks, there's spoons - no knives. Went to the next kitchen along the corridor - where have all the knives gone? 

"So I'll be pretty hopeful to be leader in three years' time at this rate... It's going to be very, very painful isn't it? 

"Just stab for a long time," he added, making stabbing motions with his hand.

David Seymour makes stabbing motions at host Simon Shepherd.
David Seymour makes stabbing motions at host Simon Shepherd. Photo credit: Newshub Nation

ACT brought in 10 MPs at the recent election, cashing in on National's slide in popularity. Among them is Brooke van Velden, deputy leader, who was with Seymour at the Newshub Nation party.

"I swear I didn't take the knives," she assured her boss, who went on to praise her singing voice.

"Brooke has an incredible voice. But the other thing that maybe people miss about Brooke - maybe they've got a few prejudices - Brooke's actually a trained economist, and she is very, very good."

Brooke van Velden sings.
Brooke van Velden sings. Photo credit: Newshub Nation

Van Velden said she wasn't going to do "any calculus" for viewers, instead treating them to a rendition of Christmas classic 'Feliz Navidad'.