Laura Walters is a Newsroom senior political reporter covering justice, education and the upcoming campaign

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Finlayson to leave Parliament

Chris Finlayson has revealed his plans to leave Parliament before the 2020 election as beleaguered National leader Simon Bridges talks about getting rid of list MPs to make room.

Bridges' comments were released on a recording between himself and rebel former National MP Jami-Lee Ross on Wednesday.

In the recording Bridges said of some senior list MPs “we just want them to go”, and named David Carter and Chris Finlayson.

Finlayson told Newsroom he planned to leave Parliament before the 2020 election – probably next year. He said he would rejoin the legal profession.

“The idea that I would be sitting in my office weeping would be sadly mistaken – I’m very much looking forward to the next stage of my career,” he said.

Ross released the recording to back up his accusations that Bridges had committed electoral fraud, by breaking up a $100,000 donation from Chinese businessman Zhang Yikun.

Ross provided the tape to police on Wednesday, the day after his dramatic resignation and simultaneous expulsion from the National Party.

Near the end of the tape, Bridges and Ross discuss the party’s list, as they talk about making space for hopefuls from the Chinese and Indian communities, including Zhang’s younger business partner Colin Zheng.

Bridges talked about it being “bloody hard” to find spots on the list. “You’ve only got so much space,” he said.

But he mentioned the possibility of getting rid of a few “obvious” list MPs, including former ministers David Carter and Chris Finlayson.

He also said former Westland mayor and National list MP Maureen Pugh, who entered Parliament in 2015, was “fucking useless”.

Bridges tweeted soon after the tape was released to say his comment was “inappropriate”, and he had “unreservedly apologised”.

“I value the work she does as the National List MP based in West Coast-Tasman & as our Associate Spokesperson for Children. She has gracefully accepted.”

Pugh could not be reached for comment.

National MP Maureen Pugh. Photo: Lynn Grieveson

Meanwhile, Finlayson told Newsroom he planned to re-join the bar after he sees his contempt legislation through the select committee process, and has finished his Crown-Maori relations book.

He thought he would be in a position to make a decision around his exit at the start of next year.

The former minister of treaty negotiations, who entered Parliament in 2005, had discussed his plans with a few select colleagues, including Jim Bolger and David Parker, but not his party leader.

Of the taped comments: “It would be a sad mistake for people to think I’m heartbroken and upset, because I’m made of sterner stuff than that,” he said.

"You can’t be too precious about this stuff, because if people taped half of what I said about people, they’d be pretty horrified. It really is a case of let he who is sinless cast the first stone.

“And I’m certainly not in that position. All I hope is that no-one’s ever taped me.”

Finlayson said he had seen a lot since joining politics as a member of the National Party upon leaving school in 1974 and characterised the Jami-Lee Ross saga as “very very dark”; “nastier than the Lange-Douglas split”.

He would not comment on Bridges’ position as party leader, or whether he believed he could survive the saga, but did back Pugh’s ability as an MP.

Nicky Wagner, another long-serving National MP, was named by Ross in the phone conversation with Bridges as another of those who could go. She was approached by Newsroom but refused to comment.

Carter could not be reached for comment, but in April told Stuff he was not going anywhere. “I’m enjoying life,” he said at the time.