Three years, many feuds: Tracking the decline of the National-NZ First partnership

Friday, 1 May 2026

Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters’ parties have attacked each other the last two weeks, most recently over the release of correspondence on the Iran War.

National-NZ First relations are increasingly strained. A dispute over the Iran War is the latest bump in the road for the coalition, writes Isaac Davison.

ANALYSIS: The first signs of a fractious relationship emerged while National, NZ First, and ACT were still in coalition talks.

In late 2023, National leader Christopher Luxon told media that a three-party deal was close. NZ First leader Winston Peters shot back that he was making “assumptions” and ACT leader David Seymour said Luxon “had too many Weet-Bix”.

A deal was signed soon after. But in the last two and half years, the Coalition Government’s time in power has been punctuated by regular, public disagreements, increasingly between Luxon and Peters.

All MMP governments have to navigate differences between coalition parties, and many of the current government’s disputes have been managed through formal Cabinet rules, known as “agree to disagree” provisions.

Other disagreements, however, have been more spontaneous and damaging. The latest dispute between Luxon and Peters over the Government’s response to the Iran War is threatening to derail the Government in election year.

Since becoming Prime Minister, Luxon appears to have been regularly out-flanked by two more savvy, experienced politicians. Despite styling himself as a CEO-type leader, he has never been able to rise above Seymour and Peters and establish himself as a presidential figure who calls the shots.

Partly as a result, the National-led coalition never truly had a honeymoon phase after coming to power.

Early tensions emerged over messaging on the economy. In early 2024, Luxon’s scene-setting State of the Nation speech described the economy as being in a precarious position and introduced his mantra of Getting New Zealand Back On Track.

Peters, however, went much further, saying the economy was “broken” and pointed out that National was $5.5 billion short of paying for its election campaign commitments.

Later in the year, Peters was critical of National’s flagship election policy of tax cuts for middle-income earners, saying they were “unaffordable” and had done little to encourage growth. Luxon’s managerial style also came under scrutiny, with Peters describing the quarterly targets - an approach promoted by the Prime Minister - as “dashboard crap”.

The same year, National was dogged by the months-long debate over Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill. During the bill’s passage through Parliament, protesters poured over the Auckland Harbour Bridge and an enormous hikoi marched to the Beehive’s steps.

ACT Party leader David Seymour leaves the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. Seymour was publicly critical of National for not supporting his Treaty Principles law change, saying it was scared of hard discussions.

As part of its coalition agreement, National had agreed to support the bill to first reading but no further. Seymour used the national attention on the bill to publicly criticise National, accusing the party of fearing hard conversations and being “afraid” of the reaction from Māori. Luxon, in return, described the bill as “simplistic” and a distraction from core issues.

A key change in the coalition relationship appears to have taken place when Peters ended his stint as Deputy Prime Minister in mid-2025, handing over to Seymour.

At the time, Peters promised to run an 18-month election campaign. No longer the Government’s second-in-charge, he appeared to feel even freer to attack his own coalition partners.

This has been most apparent in foreign diplomacy, where Peters has occasionally suggested that Luxon should stay in his lane.

In October last year, Luxon claimed personal credit in a social media post for a trade deal while in Kuala Lumpur.

'I've just done a deal with Southeast Asian nations that will help grow our economy at home,” he said on X (formerly Twitter). Peters, the Foreign Affairs Minister, shared the statement on his own X account with just one word: “We …”. He later deleted the message.

The largest formal split occurred over New Zealand’s Free Trade Deal with India, in which the Foreign Affairs Minister took the unusual step of publicly attacking a deal secured by his own Prime Minister. NZ First invoked its “agree to disagree” provision in December, describing the FTA as a “bad deal” that was neither “fair nor free”.

The attacks on the FTA have continued into this year and reached a crescendo when NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones warned of a “butter chicken tsunami” coming to these shores - a comment which Luxon said was “unhelpful”.

This occurred in arguably the rockiest period for the coalition Government so far.

Two weeks ago, Luxon was accused of ignoring warnings from his chief whip that his support was flagging. He attempted to draw a line under the controversy by holding a confidence vote and winning it.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis accused Peters of “mischief making” last week.

But instead it started a war of words with NZ First which dramatically played out over the week.

NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones apologised to Willis after making comments about her weight.

First, Peters said he should have been warned about the confidence vote, while adding that it was not a smart move (“unparalleled in New Zealand politics”) and would inevitably invite further votes or challenges.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis accused Peters of “mischief-making” and suggested NZ First were angling to partner with Labour after the election. Luxon, speaking to Newstalk ZB, said NZ First were “the guys that … put Jacinda Ardern into power” and characterised the party as “anti-immigrant”.

Jones then turned the dispute personal, responding to Willis’ accusations by saying that it was possible an outcome of her “losing too much weight” - a comment he later apologised for.

After a terrible week, the situation appeared to have calmed as MPs returned to Parliament this week. Then, a bombshell: the NZ Herald reported on Thursday that Peters had released correspondence under the OIA which showed he had talked Luxon out of throwing New Zealand’s support behind the war in Iran.

A spokesman for Peters said Luxon’s support for the war was “imprudent” and would have “run counter to New Zealand’s interests”.

On Wednesday night, Luxon trudged down two Beehive floors to issue a “please explain” to Peters. Luxon said on Thursday that Peters’ release of the emails “clearly put politics ahead of the national interest”.

“The PM would expect Mr Peters to show better judgement after more than 40 years in politics,” a spokesperson said.

Peters acknowledged he had made a mistake, Luxon’s office said. Questioned about it in the House on Thursday, Peters said: “The person in charge of foreign policy is the foreign minister. That’s me, not the Prime Minister.” (He earlier added that foreign policy decisions were made in consultation with Luxon and other ministers.)

After a tumultuous two weeks, and with NZ First firmly in campaigning mode, it is unlikely to be the end of the matter.

Smaller parties who join coalition governments have always been at risk of being subsumed by the larger partner. With six months to go until the election, NZ First seems determined to avoid this, possibly by eating National alive.