No room for Winston in Nats’ plan
Peters may not be the spectre some in National might believe.
To woo Winston or to crush him? It was a question that left National MP Mark Mitchell so flustered he retreated to the other end of the spectrum and confessed ‘‘romantic feelings’’ for leader Bill English.
His unbridled enthusiasm for English aside, he quickly toned it down lest it become the larger elephant in the room at the party’s two-day annual caucus retreat this week.
But while a fixation on National’s relationship with Winston Peters might be on everyone else’s lips, it may not have been a question traversed in any great detail by National.
It seems counterintuitive: he’s the gatekeeper who denied them entry back into government. There’s got to be some resentment there, right?
But after a marathon election post-mortem and strategy session by the entire caucus, it doesn’t ring true that he’s the party’s biggest challenge right now.
National is thinking long-term, but perhaps Peters isn’t in it. Or perhaps he is because he always has been and there’s little to be done about it yet.
An apparent gameplan will see National reach out to both NZ First and the Greens to pass legislation with it over the next two and half years.
The Greens are already mulling what to do if a National members bill to establish a marine sanctuary in the Kermadecs gets pulled.
The Greens can’t be so naive to believe they’ll get it across the line with a government that contains NZ First, which is staunchly opposed. It’ll be tied up in so much consultation simply to push it out of this term, and it’s not an opportunity the Greens can guarantee they’ll get again.
So they vote for it, and National has just achieved the incredibly rare and difficult task of pushing through legislation in Opposition. A shiny badge on the mantle of a ‘‘government in waiting’’ and the ideological divide between the Greens and NZ First widens in the aftershock.
Or the Greens don’t vote for it, and throw a hail mary that their core voters, fundamentalists and the only ones who still remain with the party, are happy to let a worldclass conservation initiative slide. In which case, the Opposition will have a red-hot branding poker marked ‘‘hypocrites’’ waiting in the fire.
Law and order is one area where National is likely to find serious common ground with NZ First to make similar gains, with the added bonus that such policy is likely to rile up the Greens.
In the meantime, there’s a straight game of man-on-man attack underway, which can be an effective chipping tool at a government that still has some way to prove it has a clear direction.
And on the issue of a right-wing partner for National, a party source says it’s too soon to make firm plans. Any number of variables can and will drastically change the landscape between now and 2020.
In the meantime, politics rolls on and the fundamental job of the Opposition is to hold the Government to account. No need to look for bridges to build or tear down, where Peters is concerned.
Like a travelling duck at a carnival stall, Peters will keep coming around again. He’s already coming up on the horizon; for six straight weeks right around pregnant Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s due date.
So is it a case of don’t mention the war for National?
Nah, likely more a case of ‘‘he’ll keep’’.
Like a travelling duck at a carnival stall, Peters will keep coming around again.