There’s something of a vinyl revival going on with the return of the Rt Hon Winston Peters to Parliament. He was 33 when he stood for the Hunua seat in the 1978 election. He was45 when he became Māori Affairs Minister in the Bolger government elected in 1990. Now, as he returns for the 54th Parliament – having been part of the 39th, 41st, 42nd, 43rd, 44th, 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, 50th, 51st, and 52nd – he is 78. And evidently, he still has plenty of needle.
Winston Peters, National Party candidate, 1975. Photo / NZME
He has been a political figure longer than David Seymour – the B-side to his A-side deputy prime minister – has been alive and he’s the oldest in the House by some way. Father of the House Gerry Brownlee is 11 years younger. But Peters still has a way to go before taking the record for the oldest NZ MP in history. Walter Nash died in office at age 86 in 1968.
