to say if she had contested either position. Speculated candidates Other National MPs were speculated by media to be possible candidates for the leadership election, including: Paula Bennett, MP for Upper Harbour, former Deputy Prime Minister and former Deputy Leader of the National Party; Chris Bishop, MP for Hutt South; Shane Reti, MP for Whangarei. Simon Bridges, MP for Tauranga and former leader of the National Party, was speculated as being a possible leadership candidate, but ruled out a bid. Nikki Kaye, MP for Auckland Central and was Deputy Leader of the National Party under Muller and interim Leader on 14 July 2020, was also speculated to be a candidate, but said afterwards that she did not seek either the leader or deputy leader position, and shortly afterward announced her retirement from politics. Result Judith Collins won the election and became the leader of the National Party. Gerry Brownlee was selected as the party's deputy leader at the same meeting. The result was announced on the evening of 14 July; the final count and who voted for whom was not announced. Collins would not confirm if Brownlee was her preferred choice for deputy. Aftermath On 15 July, the day after the election, Collins stripped Michael Woodhouse of the health portfolio for his involvement in the leaks of COVID-19 patient data. The day after that, MPs Nikki Kaye and Amy Adams announced their resignations from politics. Kaye, who had been deputy leader under Todd Muller, said that the resignation was despite Collins offering her a senior leadership position. Adams had previously said she would leave parliament at the 2020 election, but was an ally of Muller and changed her mind after Muller's appointment; following Muller's resignation and Collins' election, Adams reverted to her decision to leave Parliament altogether. Also on 16 July, Collins announced a reshuffle of her shadow cabinet. As part of a number of changes, former leaders Simon Bridges and Todd Muller both received front bench roles, while Mark Mitchell lost his justice portfolio and was demoted 6 places in the party rankings. Collins led the National Party for 16 months. She led the party during the 2020 general election, where it received 26% of the vote and 33 seats in Parliament (down from 44% and 56 seats in 2017). Collins' position was reconfirmed in a post-election vote on the leadership, required under the party's constitution, while Brownlee stood