Explore NZ First's leader, background and priorities. An educational guide, not an endorsement.
Winston Peters is the senior figure of New Zealand politics. Of Ngāti Wai descent on his mother's side and Scottish on his father's, he grew up in a big family near Whangārei and trained as a lawyer before being elected to Parliament for the National Party in 1979. He fell out with National in the early 1990s, founded NZ First in 1993, and has led the party ever since - across more than thirty years he has helped form four different coalition governments, with both Labour and National. He has been Treasurer, Deputy Prime Minister three times (1996 to 1998, 2017 to 2020, and 2023 to 2025), and Foreign Minister three times. NZ First was voted out in 2020 but Peters refused to give up; in 2023 the party returned with eight MPs and he negotiated a coalition deal that made him Deputy PM and Foreign Minister again. He uses that job to argue for closer ties with traditional partners and a tougher line on China and the United Nations. At home he is famous for sharp one-liners, his pointed finger, his love of horse racing, and for saying he speaks for 'the forgotten New Zealander' - older voters, regional towns and people who feel ignored by Wellington. Critics call him a populist who has worked with both major parties; supporters say no one else speaks up for the regions like he does. Now in his eighties, Peters has hinted 2026 may be his last campaign - but he has hinted that before.