Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas on ministerial resignations in the recent and middle-distant past, a new book from Judith Collins, and the reinvention of Simon Bridges.

This episode was recorded on Tuesday morning, before news broke that Hamish Walker and Michelle Boag were behind the Covid-19 data leak.

The Gone By Lunchtime triumvirate convenes to chew on all the issues, or at least some of them. Such as: Judith Collins’ new book; the resignation of David Clark as health minister; the Clare Curran interview from the weekend and toxic politics; the Labour Party congress and “let’s keep moving”; the social media cult of Simon Bridges; and the departure of Paula Bennett.

And, mostly important, a major mea culpa over vulgar and offensive statements in the last podcast.