John Armstrong: Peters shows he's still dangerous

On the premise that the best way to deal with your enemies is to hug them to death, the National Party might start looking around for some ambassadorial role or other overseas appointment to dangle in front of Winston Peters.

That option would probably be too much for John Key to contemplate seriously even if it got Peters out of politics for good. Likewise, the former Foreign Minister might consider such an offer too nakedly cynical for him to accept it.

Nevertheless, Peters' appearance on TVNZ's Q&A programme last Sunday should have triggered one or two alarm bells within the Government.

At stake are the votes of the less well-off, but conservative-minded who, along with large numbers of superannuitants, deserted New Zealand First for National at last year's election.

Their stickability is always in question. National is already having to undertake what looks like an opinion poll-driven mass mailout to the elderly reassuring them that their pension will not be cut just because of the stop on Government contributions to the New Zealand superannuation fund.

Peters may have been dormant - but he is still dangerous and remains a threat to National.

With other centre and right parties tied to the National minority Government, the only alternative is NZ First. Peters could not have timed his reappearance after seven months out of the limelight any better.

Sunday's programme revealed a relaxed and reinvigorated politician at his charming, disarming best. He seemed cleansed of last year's messy and seemingly neverending hassles surrounding NZ First's finances and entrepreneur Owen Glenn.

On screen to discuss last week's report on the review of the law on the foreshore and seabed, Peters refused to say whether he was planning a political comeback in the wake of those disasters and the ousting of his party from Parliament.

Despite leaving viewers none the wiser as to his intentions, Peters' appearance was still the lead item on Sunday night's One News, his willingness to go on Q&A being widely seen as an indication he is not giving up on resurrecting his political career despite the major handicap of not being in Parliament.

The story placement on One News was a reminder of the sheer force of Peters' personality and charisma. He may not be missed around Parliament. But he still has a considerable audience outside the complex who miss him - though not necessarily his party and what it stood for.

It is to National's immense good fortune that NZ First is not in Parliament. Its presence would make it a lot harder for National and the Maori Party to construct a cross-Parliament consensus on ownership of and access to the foreshore and seabed.

The Prime Minister clearly has his fingers crossed that a lasting settlement can be negotiated among Parliament's parties relatively quickly without having to pay large amounts of compensation to Maori - thereby snuffing out any bid by Peters to stoke a Pakeha backlash against National.

It is debatable anyway whether Peters should remount his charger for a full-on assault on National at this stage. There is little point jousting with a Government which has such high popularity ratings. Better to wait until a degree of disillusionment sets in, if not over the foreshore and seabed, then something else.

In the meantime, he will do what he's always done: keep everyone on the edge of their seats by keeping them guessing.