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Former TVNZ weatherman Brendan Horan has joined New Zealand First and hopes to be a candidate for the party at this year's election in the East Coast electorate.
Mr Horan was best known for his continuous beaming smile. He worked as a weather presenter for a couple of years but was dropped in September last year before the return of veteran weatherman Jim Hickey.
Mr Horan, who lives in Mt Maunganui with his wife and two children, says he is now a professional singer and is working on an album.
He was at the New Zealand First conference in Auckland and performed Twisting the Night Away as a warm-up to the party's 15th birthday celebrations on Saturday night.
Mr Horan said he had always been interested in politics and compared the manifestos of different parties to measure them against five policies important to him: less bureaucracy, fair tax, getting tough with gangs, health, and education.
"I looked at them and I wrote down five things that I wanted for New Zealand. New Zealand First was the only party where I could tick all the boxes. There comes a time when you have to put up or shut up and I'm not good at shutting up so I'd rather put up. I'm not happy with the way New Zealand has been going."
