1. Todd Michael Muller is a New Zealand former politician who served as the Leader of the New Zealand National Party and the Leader of the Opposition from 22 May to 14 July 2020.
50 Facts About Todd Muller
1. 2.
Todd Muller was elected as the MP for the Bay of Plenty electorate, which held until his retirement at the 2023 general election.
3.
Todd Muller was born in Te Aroha on 23 December 1968, where his grandfather Henry Skidmore was mayor, and was raised in Te Puna, where his parents started a kiwifruit orchard.
4.
Todd Muller attended St Joseph's primary school in Te Puna, Te Puna primary school and Tauranga Boys' College.
5.
Todd Muller recollected in 2020 that for two years he was the only Pakeha boy at St Joseph's.
6.
Todd Muller became interested in politics at a young age, once authoring a story in which he served thirteen consecutive terms as President of the United States.
7.
Todd Muller studied English, history and politics at the University of Waikato and graduated with a master's degree.
8.
Todd Muller started his corporate career working for kiwifruit company Zespri as industry relations manager from 2001 to 2003.
9.
Todd Muller was approached to contest the Tauranga electorate for the National Party in 2008, which was being vacated by incumbent MP Bob Clarkson.
10.
Todd Muller declined, preferring to progress his commercial career, and the seat was won by Todd Muller's eventual predecessor as National Party leader, Simon Bridges.
11.
Todd Muller started work at dairy company Fonterra as manager of local government and regional relations from February 2011 to May 2012.
12.
Todd Muller then became group director of co-operative affairs in May 2012.
13.
Todd Muller was part of the leadership group that responded to the 2013 Fonterra botulism scare and product recall.
14.
From August 2012 until June 2014, Todd Muller served as a director of the Sustainable Business Council.
15.
Todd Muller served as a co-opted Waikato University councillor from October 2007 to June 2014.
16.
Todd Muller left Fonterra and his directorships in June 2014 to campaign for the 2014 general election after being selected as the National Party candidate for the Bay of Plenty electorate.
17.
Todd Muller was selected to replace Tony Ryall in 2014 as National's candidate in the Bay of Plenty electorate, and won by a margin of 15,096 votes.
18.
Todd Muller retained the electorate in 2017, defeating Labour candidate Angie Warren-Clark by a margin of 13,996 votes.
19.
Todd Muller served as the deputy chair of the local government and environment committee in 2015 and of the education and science committee in 2016.
20.
Todd Muller was chair of the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee in 2017.
21.
In November 2019, Todd Muller heckled Green MP Chloe Swarbrick during her speech on climate change.
22.
In May 2020, Todd Muller challenged National Party leader Simon Bridges for the leadership on a joint ticket with Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye.
23.
Todd Muller won the resulting vote on 22 May 2020 with more than 29 votes cast for him.
24.
Todd Muller stated former leader Simon Bridges was offered a shadow ministerial role but declined, saying he was taking time to consider his future.
25.
Todd Muller had previously known New Zealand First leader Winston Peters when Peters had been the National Party MP in Tauranga and Muller had led the Young Nationals at Waikato University.
26.
An event organiser inadvertently hung the tino rangatiratanga flag upside down behind the podium and Todd Muller accidentally referred to himself as having joined the Labour Party.
27.
The weekend after, Todd Muller refused to appear on Q+A to discuss the incident and directed his inner circle to focus on National's energy policy to be announced the next week.
28.
At just 53 days, Todd Muller is the shortest-serving leader of any political party represented in Parliament in New Zealand's history.
29.
Todd Muller ruled out another bid for the party leadership.
30.
Todd Muller was assigned responsibility for internal affairs and trade in the Shadow Cabinet of Judith Collins.
31.
Todd Muller stated that the new legislation would give New Zealand customers confidence in sunscreen products that they purchased.
32.
At a late-night meeting on 22 June 2021, Todd Muller admitted to the National caucus that he had been one of the MPs quoted, and apologised for the comments.
33.
Todd Muller admitted that for several years he had been providing inside information about the party to Richard Harman, the proprietor of the political news website Politik.
34.
The next day, Todd Muller announced that he would not stand for re-election at New Zealand's next general election.
35.
Todd Muller declined to comment on any connection between his admission of speaking to Newsroom and his retirement, and cited health reasons for the resignation.
36.
Todd Muller took six weeks of leave after the announcement.
37.
Collins refused to say why Todd Muller was resigning, or whether she felt Todd Muller should leave Parliament before the next election.
38.
Subsequently, Todd Muller announced that he had reversed his decision and would not retire.
39.
Todd Muller became the National Party's spokesperson for oceans and fisheries and internal affairs in the Luxon shadow cabinet.
40.
In October 2022, Todd Muller became National's acting spokesperson for agriculture, biosecurity, and food safety after Barbara Kuriger resigned from those positions due to a personal conflict of interest.
41.
Todd Muller was promoted to 12th place in Luxon's shadow cabinet.
42.
In March 2023, Todd Muller announced he would, in fact, leave politics at the 2023 general election, stating that he did not "have enough fire in the belly for the job" and that he would like to spend more time with his family.
43.
Todd Muller takes a socially conservative position on issues such as abortion, euthanasia and drug liberalisation.
44.
Todd Muller voted against the Abortion Legislation Bill and the End of Life Choice Bill, and supported the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Amendment Bill and Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill.
45.
Todd Muller has called for greater action on climate change, having worked with Jacinda Ardern's government on the Zero Carbon Bill.
46.
Todd Muller received attention in 2020 for his intention to display a 'Make America Great Again' cap in his Parliamentary office as part of a collection of American political memorabilia, with a Muslim community leader calling on him to leave it at home.
47.
Todd Muller responded that he was "very comfortable" including it in his collection and that he hoped people would understand the context of the display.
48.
Todd Muller later changed his mind and decided not to display it.
49.
Todd Muller has expressed concern about growing partisanship on issues relating to Maori and the Treaty of Waitangi, which in his view is fuelling a level of political toxicity that is corrosive to our society.
50.
Todd Muller has had five skin cancers cut from his body, prompting his interest in legislation regulating the use of sunscreens in New Zealand.