Hosking says Winston may be a political genius

Mike Hosking writes:

Is Winston Peters the political genius of our time?

It was with the comment that the Labour Party’s workplace reforms were a “work in progress” that the penny dropped.

He is lining himself up to be the voice of middle New Zealand. He is lining himself up to be our saviour from the madness and extremism.

Most of us assumed he picked Labour because he hated National, and I am sure that, in part, played a role.

But there are two things.

One, Labour were willing to give up more than National. And two, with Labour, especially this version of Labour, you look, if you’re Peters, like a centrist.

If you’re with National you look like trouble. You look like a handbrake. You look like a killjoy.

With Labour you look experienced, settled, and professional. With National, you lose those attributes.

In other words, he’s picked the weak link and run with it.

That’s an interesting analysis. You deliberately pick the weaker party for Government, so you’ll look good in comparison to them.

It looks increasingly that if he’s not Prime Minister, he’s a co-Prime Minster.

All he needs now is traction in the polls.

Ardern, of course, is going to have to deal with this. From Labour’s point of view, they’re being undermined, right in front of their eyes.

And that another card in the Peters’ pack.

Given what we have seen of Ardern of late, when it comes to leadership, who would you back to blink first? Exactly.

We have a Deputy PM who is more powerful than the PM.