Winston Peters Biography
Winston Peters is a New Zealand politician who has been the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2017. He has led the famous New Zealand first party since 1993. He has also served as Member of Parliament since 2011 a position he has held thrice including serving twice from 1979 to 1981 and 1981 to 2008.
Winston Peters Age
Winston was born on the 11th of April 1945. He is 74 years old as of 2019.
Winston Peters Family
Peters’ birth records indicate that he was born in Whangarei and his official names as Wynston Raymond Peters. His father originates from a Māori descent and his mother has Scottish ancestry. His iwi affiliation is Ngāti Wai and his clan is McInnes. While growing up, he had little exposure to the Māori language and culture. This was due to vigorous assimilation policies that encouraged integration into Pākehā and New Zealand European society.
Winston Peters Siblings
Two of his brothers, Ian and James Leonard, have also served as MPs running on New Zealand’s first party. He also has another brother called Ron, has also stood as a New Zealand First candidate.
Winston Peters Wife
Peter married his life long partner Louise and later worked as a lawyer at Russell McVeagh in 1974.
Winston Peters Daughter| Winston Peters Son
Winston and Louise have two children together. A son called Joel Peters and daughter.
Winston Peters Net Worth
Winston is a very private person and has kept his net worth under the radar of the media. His 2019 net worth is still under review and is currently unknown.
Winston Peters Party
Peters entered into the national politics in the 1975 general election. He stood unsuccessfully for the National Party in the electorate seat of Northern Maori. During the election, he gained 1,873 votes and consequently became the first National candidate in a Māori seat for some years who did not lose his deposit.
He first became a Member of Parliament following the 1978 general election, but only after winning in the High Court an electoral petition which overturned the election-night result for the seat of Hunua against Malcolm Douglas, the brother of Roger Douglas. Peters, however, took his seat when the case ended six months after polling day, on 24 May 1979. After National won the 1990 election, Peters became Minister of Māori Affairs in the fourth National government, which was led by Jim Bolger.
Peters did not agree with the National Party leadership on several matters and frequently spoke out against his party regarding them. His party members distrusted him, and his publicity-seeking behaviour made him increasingly unpopular within the party.
In 1992, when the National Party was considering possible candidates for the elections in the subsequent year, it moved to prevent Peters from seeking renomination. In Peters v Collinge, Peters successfully challenged the party’s actions in the High Court, and in early 1993, he chose to resign from the party and also from Parliament.
Winston Peters Partner
At New Zealand First’s convention in South Auckland on 16 July 2017, Peters revealed that if elected his party would hold a double referendum on eliminating the Māori seats and reducing the number of MPs in Parliament from 120 to 100 in mid-term 2017-2020.
During the 2017 election held on 23 September, Peters lost his Northland electorate seat to the National candidate Matt King by a margin of 1,389 votes. Since Peters ranked first on the New Zealand First list, he remained in Parliament as a list MP. Following the 2017 election, Peters entered into coalition-forming talks with senior figures from the National and Labour parties. During negotiations with Ardern, he promised that he would be willing to consider dropping his policy for a referendum on abolishing the Māori seats as part of a coalition deal with Labour.
Winston Peters Simon Bridges China
Winston tried to regain back Tauranga in the 2008 election and lost to National’s Simon Bridges by a margin of 11,742 votes, a much larger loss than in 2005. With New Zealand First falling to 4.07% of the vote, Peters and his party were shut out of the 49th New Zealand Parliament.
Winston Peters Capital Gains Tax
In his concession speech, Peters promised, “This is not the end”, and alluded to the fact that while New Zealand First would not have any members in Parliament, its 4.07% of the vote meant it was still New Zealand’s fourth-largest party. Despite this, political commentators described the defeat as “the end of the road” for Peters.
On 19 October 2017, Peters announced that New Zealand First would form a coalition with the Labour Party under Jacinda Ardern, citing changing international and internal economic circumstances as the reasoning behind his decision, coupled with a belief that a Labour government was best-placed to handle the social and economic welfare of New Zealanders in a global environment that was undergoing rapid and seismic change.
On 19 January 2018, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that she was pregnant and that Peters would take the role of Acting Prime Minister for six weeks after the delivery, which happened on 21 June 2018. Peters managed the “Day to day” business of the country while Ardern was on maternity leave, a first in modern politics. Ardern returned to the role of Prime Minister full-time on 2 August 2018.
Winston Peters Social Media Contacts
- Youtube
- Tiktok
- Website