For those of us who served in Parliament with Mr Finlayson, it was a cheery reminder of his trademark subtlety and diplomacy. Declaring a state of emergency for the National Party is probably not before time, but Mr Finlayson made his reasons starkly clear. Reason number one: brand destruction, and I quote—I quote from Mr Finlayson—"I don't think … ever …, in my life, [I have seen] brand destruction as devastating as that," and, bear in mind, Chris Finlayson was around when Bill English took National to 21 percent, so he knows a fair bit about a terminal brand. Reason number two: leadership, or lack thereof. Quoting Mr Finlayson again, "[The National Party] is going through … [the] agonies [it is] because of the failure of the president and the leadership". It's Chris Finlayson's empathy that I've really missed around here. To quote Mr Finlayson: "You're talking to the wrong person if you expect me to express any sympathy for the current plight of the National Party, they deserve everything that's come to them.", and he told the journalist, "Put that in your article: they deserve everything [that] they've got." 