Political columnist John Armstrong looks at whether Andrew Little can pull Labour out of the mire in which it is stuck so deeply.

John Key has promised the SIS will get more powers and staff to respond rapidly to potential threats by NZ-based supporters of Islamic State.

Shane Taurima has spoken at the Maori Party conference telling them they needed to consider cutting deals to ensure their survival.

One of the Maori Party's electorate chairs has criticised the party's use of Prime Minister John Key and former Prime Minister, Dame Jenny Shipley for fundraising dinners.

A law which takes away the legal right to a tea break and weakens collective bargaining has taken line honours as the first law change passed in National’s third term.

New Police Minister Michael Woodhouse says he has always been upfront about his conviction on a drink driving charge almost three decades ago.

We are now halfway through the three-week marathon of what Labour likes to call hustings meetings for its leadership contestants but what Brian Edwards describes more colourfully as "cavorting....

The Prime Minister began his third term by warning National MPs and ministers that he did not want to see any hint of arrogance creeping into their behaviour.

John Key was wrong when he refused to answer a Parliamentary question about his discussion with Cameron Slater about a car crash victim's mother, the Speaker has ruled.

You do not need to be a mind-reader to spot when the Prime Minister is under real pressure in Parliament, writes John Armstrong.

John Key's conversations with blogger Cameron Slater were not in his capacity as Prime Minister, he said yesterday as he faced questions in Parliament.

Blandness seems to be the secret to the National Party's success, and so can we expect a fairly boring third term National Government, asks Bryce Edwards.

The election of Trevor Mallard yesterday as Assistant Speaker will almost certainly take out of play one of the most recalcitrant MPs in Question Time.

The rotten smell of the contents of Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics will linger around the Government this term, writes John Armstrong.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce has revealed his top priorities for the next three years.

Former minister Judith Collins is getting sympathy from unlikely places after she was denied the title "The Honourable" by Prime Minister John Key.

John Key admits he should've told Judith Collins that she wasn't getting an "Honorable" title, and "in all probability" she'll get it eventually.

Resource Management Act reform will be aimed at housing affordability, building and construction minister Nick Smith has told a summit today.

Judith Collins says she's angry after being blindsided by John Key's decision to deny her a title routinely awarded to former ministers - learning of it from the media.

Houses are going up by $30,000 a year but wages are only rising fractionally in one of the clearest illustrations of the worsening housing affordability crisis.

A carve-up of the housing portfolio in the new Cabinet has alerted the country to a radical reform the Government has in mind for state housing.

When John Key dumped Judith Collins at the height of the Dirty Politics affair, he refused to disclose who gave him a copy of the email that prompted him to dump her from the Cabinet.

A “domestic beheading” inspired by foreign fanatics is one of several threats New Zealand potentially faces from the so-called Islamic State, John Key said this morning.

Rust never sleeps. And neither, it seems, does John Key.

National minister Chris Finlayson's world has become a little more 007 with his anointment as Minister for Spies, but his first love remains the Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

The path to the top can begin in unusual places. For Paula Bennett, it was performing as Rizzo in a high school production of the musical Grease.