Winston Peters

Winston Raymond Peters PC (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician. He has led the political party New Zealand First since he founded it in 1993, and since November 2023 has served as the 25th minister of Foreign Affairs. A long-serving member of Parliament (MP), Peters was re-elected for a fifteenth time at the 2023 general election, having previously been an MP from 1979 to 1981, 1984 to 2008 and 2011 to 2020. He served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from November 2023 to May 2025. This was his third time in the role, previously serving from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020. In addition to his Foreign Affairs portfolio, Peters concurrently serves as the 8th minister for Racing and the 29th minister for Rail.

Peters first entered the New Zealand House of Representatives for the National Party in the 1978 general election, taking office in 1979 after a high court ruling initially nullified his victory. Peters rose in prominence during the 1980s as an eloquent and charismatic Māori conservative, first gaining national attention for exposing the Māori loan affair in 1986. He first served in the Cabinet as minister of Māori affairs when Jim Bolger led the National Party to victory in 1990. He was dismissed from this post in 1991 after criticising his own Government's economic and foreign ownership policies, particularly the neoliberal reforms known as Ruthanasia. Leaving the National Party in 1993, Peters briefly served as an independent and rewon his seat in a by-election. He then founded New Zealand First, a populist party with a distinctly Māori character, backed by ex-Labour and National voters alike disenchanted with neoliberalism. Peters started the Winebox Inquiry in 1994, which concerned companies using the Cook Islands as a tax haven.

As leader of New Zealand First, he held the balance of power after the 1996 election and formed a coalition with the National Party, securing the positions of deputy prime minister and treasurer, the latter position created for Peters. However, the coalition dissolved in 1998 following the replacement of Bolger by Jenny Shipley as prime minister. In 1999, New Zealand First returned to opposition before entering government with Labour Party prime minister Helen Clark, in which Peters served as minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2008. In the 2008 general election, after a funding scandal involving Peters and his party, New Zealand First failed to reach the 5% threshold. As a result, neither Peters nor New Zealand First were returned to Parliament.

In the 2011 general election, New Zealand First experienced a resurgence in support, winning 6.8% of the party vote to secure eight seats in Parliament. Peters returned to Parliament and spent two terms in opposition before forming a coalition government with the Labour Party in 2017. The new prime minister Jacinda Ardern appointed Peters as deputy prime minister and minister of Foreign Affairs. Peters was acting prime minister from 21 June 2018 to 2 August 2018 while Ardern was on maternity leave. He failed to be elected for a third time in the 2020 election, but staged another comeback in 2023 and helped form the Sixth National Government. After entering into a coalition agreement with National leader Christopher Luxon, Peters served as Luxon's deputy prime minister from 27 November 2023 to 31 May 2025, when he was succeeded by David Seymour as part of a rotation agreement.