Time on leader's side since 1974

By Andrew Laxon

Jim Anderton can laugh now about the way Time magazine picked him as a future world leader ... way back in 1974.

The 61-year-old Alliance leader is finally about to live up to his billing by becoming New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister.

But as he put it on Saturday night: "It's been a long time between drinks."

Mr Anderton has spent many of those last 25 years in the political wilderness.

He was alienated from Labour by Rogernomics in the 1980s and spent most of the 1990s fighting his former colleagues through the Alliance.

This election the two parties called a truce and Mr Anderton's confidence and stature seemed to grow.

But on election night, as the good news slowly trickled into his Wigram electorate office in Christchurch, he looked surprisingly tense.

Journalists were banished to the front room, as Mr Anderton hunched over computer screens with a few advisers out back.

"He's always like this until the numbers come through," said one aide. "He's very cautious."

By about 11 pm there was no need to worry. Mr Anderton rang a few close party colleagues and Labour leader Helen Clark and headed down the road to the St Peter's Church hall.

The party faithful mobbed him as he strode towards the stage and announced: "The centre-left has won a great victory in New Zealand tonight."

Mr Anderton stressed to cheering supporters - who needed no reminding - that this was the first truly centre-left Government in this country since Norman Kirk's 1972 Labour Administration.

He followed this up with a typical demand that everyone would now have to work a lot harder.

Yesterday, Mr Anderton could hardly wipe the smile off his face as fellow passengers cheered and clapped him through Auckland Airport on his way to coalition-building talks with Labour.

Several people shook hands. One politically aware German tourist had her photograph taken with him.

Mr Anderton's relatively modest 10-point "Christmas shopping" list also got off to a good start at the meeting.

Labour immediately picked up his idea of a cultural summit. It was also happy for Mr Anderton - who wants to be Minister for Regional Development - to put on his VIP gumboots and head to Queenstown this week to inspect the flood damage.