Peters whimpering on a leash!
John Armstrong writes:
On the evidence so far, Labour is the party that is calling the coalition shots — as it jolly well should be doing given it outnumbers Winston Peters’ party by more than six MPs to one in the current Parliament.
The latest indication that Labour is very much in charge sprang from Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would be shifting its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. …
When Peters finally did comment in his capacity as Foreign Minister, he suggested the decision was America’s to make. …
Many members of [Labour] would already have been concerned with earlier signs of Peters’ pro-Israel leanings and would have been horrified to hear him give what was effectively a tacit endorsement of Trump’s decision.
So what happened?
The Prime Minister came right over the top of Peters, however.
Jacinda Ardern declared the effective recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would “make things difficult” in terms of reaching a peace settlement. By this morning, Peters had obediently swung in behind Ardern by acknowledging shifting the embassy did not help peace efforts.
The PM will always win out.
Parker noted Labour’s election policy had been to put a price on all water, including bottled water for export. That policy position had not survived coalition talks, he added with a degree of sarcasm.
Parker’s decrying of New Zealand First’s failure to do its homework was justified. But it went beyond the boundaries of coalition etiquette.
Parker is in dangerous territory. Treating Peters in such fashion risks retaliation. …
Parker can keep pinging Peters because the later has nowhere to go were his party’s coalition with Labour to collapse.
Peters and his colleagues could slink off to Parliament’s cross-benches, only to become even less relevant and even more trapped.
He could force an election, but would be heavily punished by voters were he to do so.
Having initiated legal proceedings against three senior National MPs for them allegedly being party to the leaking of details of the overpayments he received since becoming eligible for the state pension, he could hardly go knocking on Bill English’s door.
Blinded by pride, Peters’ decision to drag his opponents into court may turn out to be a huge blunder on his part regardless of the outcome.
It leaves him with little option but to stick with Labour come hell or high water.
Quite simply, Labour has Peters exactly where it wants him — on a tight leash, feebly whimpering and going nowhere.
Peters is now so wedded to Labour he has no leverage. The conspiracy theory lawsuit against English and Joyce and the media was incredibly stupid and provides daily motivation to National.