KEY POINTS:
Don Brash may no longer be leading the National Party but, boy, he is still influencing New Zealand politics.
The outing of his relationship with Auckland businesswoman Diane Foreman was the backdrop to the thump Cabinet minister Trevor Mallard gave Tau Henare in the parliamentary lobbies last week.
And his infamous Orewa speech was the backdrop to Winston Peters' highly charged speech to his party conference yesterday on racial separatism.
During his leadership, Dr Brash borrowed heavily from New Zealand First's policy wardrobe.
Mr Peters was incensed by that, and the fact that when Dr Brash wore the "racial separatism" cloak, he got so much more attention than he received without it.
John Key has made it clear that National is not going there again. Labour never would.
So the field is wide open for Mr Peters to reclaim the Orewa agenda.
The response of the Maori Party and the demonstrators to the police raids of a fortnight ago handed him a golden political opportunity.
He didn't begin to politicise the issue, they did.
The risky part for Mr Peters is getting his hands grubby again without compromising the respectability he needs to maintain to be a credible Foreign Minister.
He is very sensitive to the accusations of Maori-bashing that will undoubtedly come his way.
That is probably why he took 10 minutes yesterday to recite a list of achievements for Maori by him or his party.
He also risks upsetting the good relationship he needs with Prime Minister Helen Clark, whose party he has accused of encouraging separatism and not having the guts to confront it.
Now that Mr Peters has confronted the issue and re-opened it, does he have the skill to manage it?
