KEY POINTS:
At 6am yesterday four National Party MPs hopped into a car outside the hotel where their caucus was having its three-day retreat and headed for the hills.
Chris Auchinvole, David Bennett and Mark Blumsky followed Chris Tremain, son of Kel Tremain and fitness freak, to go mountain biking.
Blumsky - whose experience of riding was "the exercycle at the gym" - wondered where all the protective equipment is.
"You don't need mouthguards," their guide said. "Just keep your mouths shut."
"Impossible," they protested. "We're politicians."
There is, however, no need to tell them to keep their mouths shut. Leader John Key has already done so. His hammering of the need for discipline put a stop to the disgruntled whisperings behind pillars that had occurred at retreats in previous years.
Soon after the mountain bikers left the hotel, Mr Key slipped out unnoticed for a half-hour run.
Exercise was a New Year's resolution after he sought advice from Australia's former Prime Minister John Howard. Howard told him to eat three meals a day, do detailed policy work, and get some exercise.
Key asked how he fitted the exercise in with media commitments.
"And he said, 'I guess when you're Prime Minister they fit in around you'. And I said 'it doesn't quite work like that when you're Leader of the Opposition'." So winning an election was the other resolution.
Key started the week talking tough on crime - his state of nation address outlining detailed proposals for tougher measures on youth criminals - and he ended it talking tough on crime - saying the party would repeal last year's new bail laws.
