NZ First blocks out 'Mr Sunshine'

Expelled Brendan Horan displaying his daughter's oil-stained swimsuit. Photo / Mark McKeown

Party quick to cut links with MP who became known as TV weatherman.

The end of Brendan Horan's association with New Zealand First has been swift.

He has been removed from the party's website. His maiden speech, given only in February this year, has been removed too.

The speech gave the backstory to a personality who was already familiar to hundreds of thousands of television viewers from his two-year stint as a TVNZ weatherman.

He was brought up in Whakatane and had what he called a "golden time" in his childhood learning to fish, surf, and play sports.

"I could have become another statistic: a child from a broken home in an era when single-parent families were rare. But thanks to men and women with the heart and courage to care for all of the children in their community, I am the man I am today, because to them community mattered."

Mr Horan, now aged 51, was made redundant from TVNZ in 2007.

Grinning his way through every broadcast, "Mr Sunshine", as he has referred to himself, is an entertainer, singer, speaker and sportsman, and former lifeguard and coach. He has represented New Zealand and Australia at water polo.

He finished his maiden speech with the national anthem in Maori and paid tribute to his wife. They have an 11-year-old son and a daughter aged 7.

Between his very public job on television and his very public job in Parliament he bought into the Goldbuyers franchise in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty but has ceased to have an active involvement.

After joining New Zealand First he became the party's media liaison officer for a time and stood for the party in East Coast in 2008, having been brought up in Whakatane.

Mr Horan flew the New Zealand First flag there in 2011 and came third to National's Simon Bridges.

In his political life he has made no serious blunders and made some impact with his contributions on KiwiRail and in debates on Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

He has also campaigned on the cleanup following the Rena tanker disaster, using his daughter's swimsuit to highlight the problems of oil pollution.

He serves on the Maori affairs select committee and is of the Ngati Maniapoto iwi.