Britain's wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said "if you're going through hell, keep going" and that has clearly been an inspiring quote for National Party leader Judith Collins.
it may explain Collins' reaction early yesterday when she noticed a Winston Churchill portrait hanging outside the public galleries of Parliament was being taken down.
Investigations revealed Churchill was being moved at the request of the Green Party, who had to walk past him every day to get to their offices.
Collins tweeted foul at such a de-platforming of Churchill and offered the spurned Churchill a new home in National's part of the building.
Over the weekend, at her party's annual conference, Collins had set out her list of the seven important issues she would focus on.
Portraits of Winston Churchill were not among them, as the Greens and Labour's Grant Robertson were quick to point out.
By the end of the day, they had put a lot more time and effort into talking about Collins talking about portraits than Collins had put into talking about the portrait.
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The Green Party's efforts included a media standup involving almost all their MPs. Co-leader James Shaw then stood in Parliament and recalled Collins saying she was going to focus on seven things, and not get distracted.
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Advertise with NZME."I was amazed by how long she was able to maintain her focus between Friday and today's portrait-gate."
Grant Robertson also delivered his verdict in Parliament, having trawled through his art history catalogues to find other artworks National might prefer.
The best of them included an abstract Jackson Pollock to represent National Party's "laser-like focus on the issues that matter". Then came Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, which Robertson pitched as Christopher Luxon's preference.
He noted Luxon's version had "the real JC in the middle".
It was all good fun. But for the Greens it was also a bit of an own goal given they expended a lot more energy (and taxpayer's money) on the positioning of a painting than Collins had.
After the Green MPs moved to the same floor as Churchill last year, they decided they did not like their floormate.
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It is not unknown for art works preferred by political parties to move when that party moves.
But Churchill had hung in one of the public areas of Parliament, not the Greens' quarters.
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Advertise with NZME.Happily for them, Green MP Elizabeth Kerekere was the chair of Parliament's art committee.
That committee is charged with decisions such as the purchase of art works – and where they should be hung.
Kerekere put up her wish to replace Churchill and, lo, it was done. An artwork by Marilynn Webb was selected and purchased, and Churchill expunged from the sights of the Green MPs.
Parliamentary Service reported he was now off getting a spruce up and would be hung elsewhere. It is yet to decide where.
Judith Collins, meanwhile, could have done with an ally.
By the end of the day she had one in the Winston she had not been quite so keen on keeping around: Winston Peters.
Peters, who was named after Churchill, told RNZ he was appalled by the "petty" moves of the Green Party and suggested they get a bit of historical understanding and "grow up".
