Mike Hosking: Peters' spell at top a triumph, Ardern faces testing time back in role

COMMENT

All going to plan, Jacinda Ardern will be back in the office this morning and so ends the Winston Peters caretaker prime ministership.

I would give him 9 out of 10.

Unlike many, I always thought he would make a solid effort of it, this was his dream, he was hardly going to blow a gasket and give the haters a chance to say "I told you so".

In some respects, given I deal with him on the radio each Tuesday, he's been more enjoyable than the incumbent.

He has an experience, a wisdom, a status that comes with age and his time around the Parliament.

Say what you like about his party and some of his policies, say what you like about the whole arrangement, from the coalition to the fact he's been filling in for a pregnant leader, but if you strip away the politics and judge him on merit, you'd be churlish to suggest he's done anything but enhance the Government's operation.

He's picked a couple of headline-grabbing fights with Australia, but we all know that's the Peters mischief, and apart from anything else - and this is the attribute I like to see in people - he's light of foot.

He is clearly of an age and time of life where he feels he doesn't need to prove himself any more, he is what he is, and you like it or you don't.

Contrast him with Jacinda and she is a world of angst and earnestness.

She's a quick learner, she has a broad appeal, but just below the surface you detect and feel the desperate desire to be successful, to be accepted, to be seen with a level of gravitas I'm just not sure most people want to give her.

Time helps that of course, but without wandering down the rabbit hole that is her motherhood and job demands, she is coming up to a time that might well make or break her prime ministership.

John Key last weekend was unquestionably right about the economy.

He's right abut places like China and lord knows what happens to Europe post-Brexit, but there is no shortage of evidence to suggest the good economic days are under real strain.

And the trick, as we found out 10 years ago, was to be able to fund your way out of it.

Maybe that's why John said what he did … he knows if the bubble bursts most of us have been paying attention long enough to make a direct comparison to how the Nats dealt with it, as opposed to how this lot will.

The policies so far don't bode well, confidence and growth are both down.

The Government, although boosted by more tax than they planned, have been spending like drunks, and there is an overarching sense of naivety around many of them.

I don't feel good about their skills to handle tough days.

And leading that lot is a new mother, dog tired, and new to the game of Government and new to this level of responsibility, pressure and expectation.

To this point her personality has played well for her, she is a genuinely likeable person, but just look at her Facebook post last weekend, which by the way if you thought was coincidence, stop reading because you're too naïve.

But look at that video and she is talking to us like we are 5-year-olds, and we are sitting on a mat listening to Ardern storytime. To this point it's all been fun and the upside is the shit hasn't hit the fan yet.

Maybe that's why I liked Peters' time at the top, he was the real deal.

Ardern wants to be the real deal, is trying to be the real deal.

But as she returns this morning, puts her papers on the desk, the baby in the corner and presumably tells Clarke to warm the bottles, she enters a time and expectation that would test anyone.