'Do ya feel lucky?' asks Dirty Winston

Winston Peters' reached for the Clint Eastwood book of politics yesterday, duelling with National deputy leader Gerry Brownlee on his fitness to hold the foreign affairs portfolio.

Asked by Mr Brownlee why he believed a particular Herald columnist "has it in for him", Mr Peters reminded him that he had more than a telephone book of National Party internal emails going back three years.

Then Mr Peters slipped into Dirty Harry mode, indulging his penchant for memorising large sections of movie scripts, this time from the film that propelled Eastwood to stardom in 1971.

Mr Peters: "I know what they are thinking. They are thinking: 'Has he got one telephone book of these emails or has he got 10?'

"I've got to tell you in all this excitement I clean forgot to count them myself, but given that this is the most damaging information seen in the Western world, that can blow their political heads clean off, they've got to ask themselves this question; 'Do you feel lucky? Well do you - punks?"'

Of course, this takes liberties with the original dialogue.

Eastwood's character, San Francisco cop Harry Callahan, says to a bank robber: "I know what you're thinking: 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I've kind of lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?"'