KEY POINTS:
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says he could have been National Party Prime Minister in 1990 if he had knuckled down to it.
"I have no doubts in my mind I could have been PM in 1990 without any difficulty whatsoever if I had knuckled down and
conspired for it," Transtasman newsletter yesterday reported him as saying.
Jim Bolger became National leader in 1986 in Opposition after challenging Jim McLay and then became Prime Minister in 1990.
Ruth Richardson became finance spokeswoman and then a controversial Finance Minister, continuing the economic reforms Sir Roger Douglas had begun with Labour.
Mr Peters was Maori Affairs Minister and part of a group within National that opposed Ruth Richardson's course.
National not only broke its promise to get rid of the superannuation surcharge in 1990, it increased it.
Mr Peters said in the interview he had had 32 colleagues in the National Party through his office early in 1989 "murmuring this sort of discussion" but he had never encouraged them.
"I never intended leading a party with policies that were then being negotiated with the Business Roundtable.
"Sure, someone will go down in the record books as having been the Prime Minister," he said.
"My real challenge is to show me one good thing they did for New Zealand."
Mr Peters was sacked as a minister in 1992 and left National in 1993, winning a byelection then forming his own New Zealand First Party, with a large support base among the elderly.
In 1996 he formed a coalition Government with National and as Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister carried through on his promise to ditch the surcharge.
His support base disappeared in 1999 after the collapse of the coalition but Mr Peters has continued to court the elderly vote.
Some of his supporters last year talked informally to National about the prospect of Mr Peters becoming Prime Minister in a powersharing deal but Mr Peters said at the time that he was not promoting the idea and any of his MPs who valued their list ranking would not be discussing it.
He campaigned last year on the promise of introducing a golden age discount card for senior citizens, which Labour signed up to as part of its support agreement with New Zealand First.
Mr Peters, the Associate Senior Citizens Minister as well as Foreign Minister, will produce a giant version of the prototype, a gold card, in the Parnell Rose Gardens in Auckland and show how it will work.
Companies will tender for the opportunity to offer discounts to card holders.
He has pledged to stand again next election. While no one is talking of power-sharing deals, it could still be possible if the party survives to hold the balance of power.
