Former National Party leader Simon Bridges has no intention of becoming the leader of the party again.
Bridges appeared on TVNZ's Q+A show on Sunday and said he enjoyed being out of the limelight and has become a better person since being dumped as Leader of the Opposition for Todd Muller's short reign.
"I am at a stage where I feel I don't have a massive amount to lose," he said.
"When you're in the national media all the time you lay yourself bare, and now's the time where I try to get some balance, spend more time with family and get on the odd reality TV show.
"I'm more at ease with myself but I'm far from perfect and I get a lot of things wrong. I think I'm a laid back, more mature person."
Pressure continues to mount on current National Party leader Judith Collins as latest polls show her languishing behind Jacinda Ardern as the preferred Prime Minister.
But Collins doubled down on her plans to remain leader of the party when she appeared on Newshub Nation on Sunday.
"I want to make this really clear... I am staying, I am not going," she said. "I have a job to do and I am doing that job."
Bridges released his book National Identity: Confessions of an Outsider in August, the week New Zealand went into lockdown. He said it didn't have any political motivation behind it.
"If I was writing for political motivation, I wouldn't be telling New Zealanders about how un-coordinated I am, that I'm religious, that I've been beaten up a lot, that I don't feel particularly masculine at times," he told TVNZ's Q+A show.
When pressed on what he would do if he was offered the role, Bridges batted the question away.
"I don't want to deal with those hypotheticals, it is certainly straight up, there is no guile or cleverness in this," he said.
"It's not my intention to become leader of the National Party. I'm really enjoying life and politics at the moment. I can contribute as a local MP and I have spokesmanship roles."
