A small motorboat passes anchored vessels in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran.Amirhosein Khorgooi / AP Tim Hurdle is a former National Party senior adviser and is a director of several companies, including Museum Street Strategies, a public affairs firm, and is Freshwater Strategy’s New Zealand collaborator. OPINION: The parties are warming their engines on the short political runway before the polls open for our November 7 election.