The damage from National’s leadership turmoil will outlast Christopher Luxon’s survival and follow him into the 7 November election, political commentator and former United Future leader Peter Dunne says.

“It’s a sort of corrosive, ongoing process,” he says.

He says the contest emboldens the coalition partners and hands the opposition an opening to make capital.

“What happens next time he makes a gaffe?”

He says Luxon still comes across as an international businessman, unlike the likes of John Key, who adapted quickly to political life.

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