So, having cuckooed his way into the ACT Party, in the process reducing it to a rump of 1%, John Banks is now looking at merging it with the Conservatives:
ACT's lone MP John Banks says he is in favour of talks with Conservative Party leader Colin Craig – as speculation mounts behind the scenes about a merger.So much for ACT's old slogan of "the liberal party" then. The Conservatives are almost diametrically opposed to ACT's values, opposing both social and economic liberalism (they oppose asset sales and support economic intervention). And while ACT's Parliamentary wing has been socially conservative for the last decade or so (from Steven Franks to David Garrett), this sort of merger would make that difference in values obvious even to the young ACT on Campus drones who now make up the party's core support.[...]
After an hour-long meeting with Mr Key yesterday, Mr Banks said: "Given our result on Saturday, we need to talk to as many people as we can about our future, because I want to make sure we are alive and well in 2014.
"Colin Craig is a class New Zealander. His youthful enthusiasm is what the ACT Party needs going forward."
The good news for ACT is that Craig isn't having a bar of it. The bad news for ACT is that this leaves them with John Banks. Unless he just jumps ship by himself and leaves them behind.
(Not that I actually care about ACT or its future; I just find it amusing that they're reaping what they've sown in spades)