Blow to Peters as party chief quits in protest

Winston Peters

Winston Peters is close to clinching a deal that will make him Foreign Minister in a Labour-led Government, but he was dealt a blow yesterday with the resignation of his long-serving president, Doug Woolerton, who opposes the move.

Mr Peters was at Parliament yesterday finalising negotiations with Labour and attending a New Zealand First board meeting at which Mr Woolerton is understood to have resigned.

Mr Woolerton refused to comment last night but his resignation was confirmed by others.

While Mr Woolerton has resigned as president of New Zealand First there are no suggestions he will resign as an MP or from the party.

He apparently gave notice of his intention to resign at a caucus meeting at Parliament last Thursday when the caucus accepted Labour's offer for Mr Peters to take a ministerial post.

It is the third blow that has been dealt to Mr Peters in the wake of the 2005 election: he almost halved his caucus from 13 to seven MPs; lost his Tauranga seat; and now has lost his founding president, who left National with Mr Peters in 1993 to establish a new party.

It was expected that there would be some resistance in the New Zealand First caucus to Mr Peters taking a ministerial post because it was at odds with what he said before the election, but the resignation of the president was unexpected.

In a Rotorua speech and press conference on September 7, Mr Peters said that New Zealand First would sit on the cross-benches - outside Government - and abstain on confidence and supply votes unless stability was threatened.

But the election delivered a potentially unstable combination of seats and Labour has been pressing Mr Peters' party to give it a positive vote to shore up stronger support.

It has also pressed him to take a ministerial post in the hope that it would tie the mercurial politician closer to the deal.

Mr Peters, as Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer in the ill-fated National-New Zealand First coalition of 1996-98, was expected to be offered a position of status.

And final election results, which meant Labour had to depend on either New Zealand First or the unpredictable Maori Party, also hugely boosted New Zealand First's bargaining power.

It is thought that Labour may also be making a late bid to get United Future's support on confidence and supply with the offer of a ministerial post outside the Cabinet to leader Peter Dunne. His party has three votes.

If Prime Minister Helen Clark got United's support she would have a workable majority of 61, even without the Greens.

Such a deal is likely to sour relations between Labour and the Greens, who have been kept out of coalition in the past two terms.

It may give the Greens a little more leverage at the bargaining table in the next day or two but the party has pledged to do nothing to bring down a Labour-led government.

Asked about the prospect of Mr Dunne getting a ministerial post when he had vetoed the Greens getting one, Greens co-leader Rod Donald said Labour was well aware of the Greens' view on the matter.

"I would also say that we have made it clear all along that our priority is policy gains. We are more interested in substance over style."

Mr Dunne had made it known before the election that he wanted the post of Foreign Minister. It was also the job that National had been planning to offer Mr Peters, had it been in a position to lead a government, party sources told the Herald before the election. 

There is disagreement from key players about National's claim that it has 57 votes - which would necessarily include United Future and the Maori Party.

Mr Dunne told the Herald on Sunday he was still conducting good-faith talks with Labour and had made no commitment to National.

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples said no commitment had been made and the party was still open to a confidence and supply agreement with Labour.