Post by Kiwi Frontline on Jun 26, 2021 11:40:13 GMT 12
Graham Adams: WINSTON PETERS IS BACK… AND SO IS HE PUAPUA
Indeed in mid-May, after Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi had objected in Parliament to what he called “racist” rhetoric by the National Party over its claims of Māori separatism, Collins was assailed by a gaggle of journalists outside the chamber clamouring to know whether she was racist.
The same tactics don’t work on Peters; in fact, he thrives on such insults. In the speech he delivered to the NZ First AGM last Sunday that marked his re-entry into politics, he went out of his way to mock Waititi for claiming the neck-tie worn in Parliament was a symbol of a “colonial noose” while happily ignoring the “cowboy hat” he habitually wears.
The message was clear: If Waititi and the Māori Party want a fight, bring it on.
Peters is a scrapper and a wily and dogged infighter. And no more so than when he feels slighted or treated unfairly. Willie Jackson’s incautious statement this week about how much mileage Peters could have got from He Puapua before the election will be a flaming red rag to him.
Jackson said: “I’m not saying Peters would have been back [if he had been given He Puapua], but you’ve got to remember [NZ First] were trying to use anything to get the vote up, and it would’ve been gold for them.”
Peters’ reference to “ingratitude” on the part of his former ministerial colleagues is loaded. He is acutely aware that he put Ardern into power in 2017 and any suspicion that she was willing to act less than honourably towards him will rankle.
After eight months in seclusion in the Far North pondering his next move, Peters will have had plenty of time to savour the prospect of serving up his revenge as a very cold dish over the next two and a half years before the 2023 election.
Ardern and her ministers should be afraid. As the National Party was reminded forcefully in 2017 after Peters suspected their ministers had leaked his superannuation details in an effort to discredit him, he is a dangerous and implacable foe......
democracyproject.nz/2021/06/25/graham-adams-winston-peters-is-back-and-so-is-he-puapua/
Indeed in mid-May, after Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi had objected in Parliament to what he called “racist” rhetoric by the National Party over its claims of Māori separatism, Collins was assailed by a gaggle of journalists outside the chamber clamouring to know whether she was racist.
The same tactics don’t work on Peters; in fact, he thrives on such insults. In the speech he delivered to the NZ First AGM last Sunday that marked his re-entry into politics, he went out of his way to mock Waititi for claiming the neck-tie worn in Parliament was a symbol of a “colonial noose” while happily ignoring the “cowboy hat” he habitually wears.
The message was clear: If Waititi and the Māori Party want a fight, bring it on.
Peters is a scrapper and a wily and dogged infighter. And no more so than when he feels slighted or treated unfairly. Willie Jackson’s incautious statement this week about how much mileage Peters could have got from He Puapua before the election will be a flaming red rag to him.
Jackson said: “I’m not saying Peters would have been back [if he had been given He Puapua], but you’ve got to remember [NZ First] were trying to use anything to get the vote up, and it would’ve been gold for them.”
Peters’ reference to “ingratitude” on the part of his former ministerial colleagues is loaded. He is acutely aware that he put Ardern into power in 2017 and any suspicion that she was willing to act less than honourably towards him will rankle.
After eight months in seclusion in the Far North pondering his next move, Peters will have had plenty of time to savour the prospect of serving up his revenge as a very cold dish over the next two and a half years before the 2023 election.
Ardern and her ministers should be afraid. As the National Party was reminded forcefully in 2017 after Peters suspected their ministers had leaked his superannuation details in an effort to discredit him, he is a dangerous and implacable foe......
democracyproject.nz/2021/06/25/graham-adams-winston-peters-is-back-and-so-is-he-puapua/