Winston said PM would ‘rue’ saying Nash wasn’t a good candidate – why NZF have peaked

When former Labour minister Stuart Nash was announced as NZ First’s candidate for Napier in May 2026, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon criticised the decision and said Nash would not be a minister in any government he led because of Nash’s previous conduct.

In response, Winston Peters defended recruiting Nash and said Luxon would “rue” making those comments, implying the Prime Minister would regret dismissing Nash as a candidate

Cough.

Luxon isn’t the one rueing that now.

Here is how bad NZF have screwed up.

They have made Luxon look strong.

That is almost impossible to do.

The reality is Jones and Nash saying toxic stuff won’t really hurt NZF.

If you listened to the NZF Conference, the biggest cheers came from anti-trans and anti-vaccine culture war garbage.

The NZF of today is VERY different from the NZF of yesteryear.

NZF now is a very reactionary extremist Party fuelled on social media hate algorithms.

Most are Trad Wife supporters who don’t think mothers should be at work in the first place so Nashy attacking a new Mum is pretty much on brand for NZF.

NZF are polling 11.5% but Winston thinks they are 20%

I think NZF have peaked because their hate trolls are just too toxic.

Where the impact will come from is the backlash vote against NZF and that backlash vote is going to Labour, TOP, the Greens and TPM.