Barry Soper: Why Winston Peters is the real power behind the throne

It's been tough for National ever since Winston Peters stepped up to the podium in the Beehive on October the 19th last year and declared Labour the winner of the election.

The party may have won the public vote but it was unable to win the New Zealand First leader's favour.

To add insult to National's frustration was the first opinion poll of the year, showing its support has remained rock solid since the election. Labour's still trailing by two percent, although it's achieved its highest rating in a decade.

The Peters party's support has halved coming in at under four percent, not enough to get it into Parliament. But the same happened after the first MMP election back in 1996 when Peters went with National and in 2005 when he stepped out with Labour.

So Peters isn't terribly concerned and neither he should be. He's the real power behind the throne as Labour celebrates its first hundred days in office.

Jacinda Ardern, who it seems can do no wrong, has ticked off the 18 initiatives the Government's taken since coming to power, including tens of millions to be spent on inquiries and the like with a good smattering of New Zealand First policies in the mix.

While the Prime Minister appears to be untouchable, so it would seem for her deputy who's been presenting the cheques for the Finance Minister to sign it would seem.

Most ministers have to put up a convincing, grovelling case in the Budget round to get their cause across the line. Peters appears able to make announcements before the numbers are even crunched.

He certainly looks after the glamour areas he's been put in charge of, or more correctly, chose for himself.

The racing industry looks set to get tax breaks and at least one all-weather track and he's now talking about pouring money into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade which he says has been starved of cash for years making it a bad look for this country. It's a repeat of what he did with the same portfolios he held under Helen Clark.

Peters was asked whether the Finance Minister shares his view, he smirked, and said he did which means money's on the way.

This wily old politician will actually be on the throne not long after the Budget's delivered in mid-May to bask in the glory of his achievements while his boss Ardern will be away celebrating hers.