As it turns out, Mitchell, a 43-year-old former Tauranga City councillor, is qualified to work protection. A black-belt in judo, he has also run boxing and women's self-defence classes.
There's also been a hairy moment or two during a stint owning and running bars. One resulted in a suspended sentence for assault after a gang member threatened his life, and it was during a melee involving another gang that he met his former business partner, Brad Shipton.
Head of a police team in Tauranga at the time, Shipton, who would later come to national prominence in the Louise Nicholas trial and, in another case, be jailed for rape, responded to an incident at the Straight Shooters bar, then run by Mitchell.
A gang-affiliated rugby league team were turned away, sparking "an almighty brawl", Mitchell says.
One of his employees had his face burned on a barbecue before Shipton and his officers turned up and cleared the gang out.
Mitchell worked for Shipton after the older man had left the police and entered the hospitality business, and when Mitchell bought a bar his former boss bought a share of it.
They became business partners and co-directors of companies including Uranus Direct and Pluto Sextile.
"My mother is an astrologer, so my mum used to give me names of what was happening at the time, and I would associate those with my company names."
Mitchell says his business relationship with Shipton ended well before the allegations against him were known, and he was reluctant to have the link feature in this article.
"Yes, I was in business with Brad Shipton for about three years ... before any of that broke ... nobody knew. I mean Brad was in the police, he got into council. Nobody knew this history [the Nicholas allegations related to events in the mid-1980s], and it was a shock to everybody."
Mitchell also received a suspended sentence for assault 18 years ago after he turned away a gang member with facial tattoos from Straight Shooters - a bar with sawdust on the floors that he bought from Barry Crump.
The gang member - "a lot bigger than me, a very intimidating individual" - attacked him, and said he was going to return with a gun to finish the job.
"I told the staff to call the police ... by the time they arrived I'd run up and gave him a beating, basically, gave him a bit of a boxing lesson."
The man, who had skipped bail at the time, was convicted and sent back to jail.
Mitchell says he regrets crossing the line, and was upfront with NZ First about the incident when he ran for Parliament. A few years before the fight a close family friend working in Auckland had his face blasted with a shotgun after similarly refusing gang members entry.
"Those things stick in your mind. It's a very dangerous industry."
Before entering politics, Mitchell made local headlines in December 2009 when his Hamilton bar, the Bahama Hut, was forced to close for a week because of two promotions - Funtastic Fridays and Super Saturdays - that gave punters unlimited drinks for a six-hour period for as little as $39.
There was also some controversy over leprechaun-curling competitions at another of his pubs, the Mount Mellick, where a vegetable oil-covered dwarf would be propelled along a 6m polythene sheet.
Mitchell says the all-you-can-drink promotions came after authorities refused to act against rivals who were selling $1 beers.
"[Funtastic Fridays] wasn't about drinking quickly. It was about drinking responsibly all night long and food would be provided. Well, it just went gangbusters ... we got our desired effect because police and council [cracked down on other cheap promotions]."
A few years later and Mitchell, then the respected chairman of Bay of Plenty Hospitality NZ and after stints importing fresh coconuts, business coaching and helping out with his father's debt collection business, successfully ran for council. After a year in the job he agreed to be NZ First's candidate in Tauranga, and made it into Parliament after the last election as Nosix on the party's list.
He has gone his own way. His father, Bob Mitchell, was a campaign manager for National MP Anne Tolley, and the chairman of the party's Napier electorate.
Mitchell's mother was a strong Labour supporter, and his grandfather a deputy leader of the New Zealand Communist Party. His first vote was for the Greens, before he says he saw the light.
"New Zealand First ticked all my boxes ... sovereignty and national pride and putting Kiwis first."
Mitchell, one of the few men in Parliament to wear three-piece suits, hasn't been hesitant to get stuck in during parliamentary question time, recently pressing Conservation Minister Maggie Barry about commercial shark diving off Stewart Island.
"I thought, how would I like it if this was happening in Mt Maunganui beach, where I spend a lot of time in the water [Mitchell has a long association with surf lifesaving]."
Married to wife Erika for 10 years, he has a 9-year-old daughter and two sons, aged 7 and 4.
When his sister died in a car accident in Hawkes Bay in 2001, he and his wife, not married and without children at the time, adopted his 14-year-old niece and 12-year-old nephew.
His niece, now 26, lives in Wellington, and Mitchell smiles when he recalls showing her and her partner around Parliament.
"For me it was a no brainer. If the same thing happened to myself with my children being left alone I knew that 100 per cent my sister would have done exactly what I did."
While Mitchell and Tabuteau didn't know each other before entering Parliament, a friendship has quickly formed, both coming from the same wider region and being of similar ages with young families.
Rotorua born-and-bred, Tabuteau is more steeped in NZ First, having been a member for 22 years after his politically-active parents were among the first supporters.
"I came along for the ride back then, and just became more and more interested," he says.
Tabuteau is of Ngati Rangiwewehi, Ngati Ngararanui and Ngati Whakaue descent through his mother's side. His uncle, Tommy Gear, is close friends with Peters and worked as an NZ First staffer for many years.
After teaching economics at Rotorua Boys' High School, he took the reins as programme leader for Waiariki Institute of Technology Business Management.
It's that background that has seen the 40-year-old take the lead for his party on its opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
"There is no framework for good, considered and thoughtful professionals to give their feedback to the Government and know that has been taken on board," Tabuteau says of the secrecy surrounding negotiations.
His Fighting Foreign Corporate Control private member's bill, drawn from the ballot in March, would prevent New Zealand from entering into new trade deals that gave foreign businesses the right to bring investor disputes against the Government.
Tabuteau has taken the long road to Parliament.
He stood as NZ First's candidate in Rotorua four times, but jumped up the party list from 11 to four before last year's vote.
It has been an "incredibly steep" learning curve, he says.
"No one can prepare you for the workload, the diversity, the challenges ... I came from running a business school, which was incredibly busy and incredibly stressful. But, yeah, it doesn't compare."
Things are made easier by his wife Karen - "a strong, on-to-it woman" - holding the fort at home.
His youngest daughter, 9, attends the primary school where she teaches, and his 18-year-old daughter is at Victoria University in Wellington.
Of Peters' "bodyguards", who trade banter with each other posing for the Herald photographer, Tabuteau is the more reserved to interview.
An uncontroversial comment about Labour being in transition is softened by, "in my humble opinion, I'm new to this game".
Mitchell also admits to "looking and feeling stupid" after an exchange at question time, but is bullish on his party's future.
"We are going to become the biggest opposition party that this country has seen.
"To come from where we started 22 years ago to now, it's a phenomenal story and I think it will be [seen] as one of the best stories in New Zealand politics."
Clayton Mitchell
• 43 years old, made the late decision to stand for Parliament a year after becoming a Tauranga City councillor.
• A black-belt in judo and keen surf-lifesaver, Mitchell owned a number of bars and restaurants and served as the chairman of Bay of Plenty Hospitality NZ.
Fletcher Tabuteau
• 40 years old, the first-term MP has been a member of NZ First for 22 years and has contested four elections as a candidate in Rotorua.
• After teaching economics at Rotorua Boys' High School, he took the reins as programme leader for Waiariki Institute of Technology Business Management.
