June 16, 2013
Winston still rules in Parliament
Opinion: While Peter Dunne's political career is in turmoil, Winston Peters has shown pundits that in New Zealand's Parliament he really does rule supreme.
I mean, who else could have played Mr Dunne like a $2 fiddle and then got him with an encore?
Mr Peters showed when it comes to politics and political manoeuvring; he's in a league of his own.
No other New Zealand politician has the skills to do something with nothing.
Winston's had more political fallouts than a seasoned skydiver, yet he is still king of the kaumatua and Grey Power's pin-up poster boy.
No wonder the nannies love him.
See, the thing is when Mr Peters gets a bee in his bonnet, or in Mr Dunne's case a whiff of a scandal, watch out.
He initially accused Mr Dunne of leaking a classified report into GCSB spying on New Zealand citizens to a female journalist, who used to work for News of the World.
Talk about honey pot.
Then Mr Peters claimed Mr Dunne and Fairfax reporter Andrea Vance "frequently" met, possibly and including the evening before she published details of the leaked GCSB report on April 9.
He said Mr Dunne was leaking like a sieve and reckons he has the unedited emails between Mr Dunne and Ms Vance.
But even if he hasn't, he's created doubt and got rid of another political opponent.
When Mr Dunne relented and released edited copies of his correspondence with Ms Vance, it was only a matter of time before you knew his time was up.
Being among the inner sanctum of politics, gives MPs access to top secret information and though Mr Dunne was not known as a leaker or whistleblower, you now have to question if he has done this sort of thing before.
Being a deep throat can boost one's ego and if the person you are leaking the information to is pretty, that can also boost the endorphins in the male body.
But like Mr Peters says, there's no fool like an old fool and the former United Future Party Leader is Dunne and dusted.
So to those naysayers who reckoned Mr Peters was a spent force in politics, I bet they are now eating humble pie.
Last Friday Mr Dunne was forced to resign as a minister.
But Mr Peters is not letting him get off that lightly and reckons he has more dirt to dish up.
When it comes to dirt, he is like a 10 tonne digger and extractor all in one.
Watching Mr Peter’s steamroll Mr Dunne into submission and resignation was great theatre.
Who knows, maybe it could one day be turned into a movie. What do you reckon – Winston the Warrior or perhaps the Peters Files?
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