shortly after his election, however, smith opted to take two weeks of stress leave, saying that the protracted leadership disputes had exhausted him. when smith returned to parliament, brownlee challenged him for the deputy leadership. informed of the challenge, smith resigned, and on 17 november 2003 brownlee won the caucus vote unopposed. initially, smith alleged that while he was on stress leave, "a campaign to oust me was conducted in the media while i was under the leader's instructions to make no comment." audrey young wrote in the "new zealand herald" that brownlee and murray mccully were rumoured to have been behind the campaign to oust smith as deputy leader.