Winston's Whirlwind: Peters 'carries the can' after confusing U-turn on Iran leaked emails

Winston Peters says it was a mistake to release internal emails without first consulting Christopher Luxon’s office, after giving conflicting explanations within the space of a day.

The emails, first reported by the New Zealand Herald, revealed tensions between the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Prime Minister’s office over New Zealand’s response to United States-led strikes on Iran.

On Wednesday evening, Peters met with Luxon and said that at the time, he believed he had made a mistake and apologised.

However, speaking exclusively to William Terite on Pacific Mornings on Thursday, Peters said he did not believe a mistake had been made.

“I acknowledged that I’d made a mistake and I found out this morning I didn’t make a mistake,” he said.

“I thought I hadn’t done the check and therefore paid for it… now I find out what I was concerned about, in fact it did happen.”

By Thursday afternoon, Peters again changed position and accepted responsibility.

“In the end, I made the mistake. We carry the can in our office, we don’t blame others, but funnily enough, a couple of my staff are going to be in a training session this afternoon on the matter,” he told reporters.

United? From left: Winston Peters, Christopher Luxon and ACT leader David Seymour insist the coalition is in unity despite a week of confusion over leaked emails that exposed private disagreements regarding the Iran strikes. Photo/Facebook/David Seymour

Peters described the issue as a “process mistake”, saying officials should have checked with the Prime Minister’s office before releasing the emails.

“The assumption was that the Prime Minister’s office was doing the same thing, and we should have checked that first,” he said.

National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis said the changing explanations showed Peters was “very, very confused”.

Carrying the can: After giving three different explanations in 24 hours, Winston Peters has accepted responsibility for a "process mistake" that left National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis describing the veteran politician as "very, very confused". Photo/PMN News/Joseph Safiti

"Under the no-surprises policy, you consult before you release emails. If consultation had occurred, it may well have been the case that they were released,” Willis said.

“He now seems very confused. Very, very confused. One minute it was a mistake, the next minute it wasn’t a mistake. Now I understand it’s a mistake again.”

The emails show a behind-the-scenes disagreement over New Zealand’s response to the strikes.

While the Government’s public position was to “acknowledge” the action, the correspondence suggests Luxon’s office wanted to explore whether New Zealand should go further and express explicit support for the United States and Israel.

Peters’ office pushed back, warning that the approach would be “imprudent” and “counter to New Zealand’s national interests”.

According to the New Zealand Herald, the Prime Minister’s office has rejected that interpretation, saying the emails reflect Luxon testing advice and comparing New Zealand’s position with allies including Australia and Canada.

Watch Winston Peters' full interview from Thursday's Pacific Mornings show below.

It also said Peters’ office should have consulted before releasing the material and that doing so “clearly put politics ahead of the national interest”.

Despite the disagreement, Peters dismissed suggestions of wider instability in the coalition.

“There’s no coalition in disarray… we’ll be in unity all the way to the election,” he said.

ACT leader David Seymour also played down any suggestion of division within the Government.

“The coalition has had a joined-up and consistent approach throughout this. I know what you want to talk about, but people have discussions behind closed doors before we come to a position.

"I’d be much more worried if there wasn’t a discussion,” he told reporters.