National MP Chris Penk is in trouble with his boss Judith Collins after tweeting that New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is a "s*x maniac".
Collins demanded he take the tweet down, but it was Peters who started the scrap. Peters has pretty well destroyed any chance either major political party will work with NZ First again.
You'd be forgiven for thinking, Chris who? Or even Chris coup.
In an interview with Newshub Nation over the weekend, Penk was asked he'd ever want to be National leader.
"Not any time soon. I certainly wouldn't put my hand up before I felt ready," Penk said. "We would see, potentially in the future."
His opening gambit after that accidental coup on Newshub Nation was a now-deleted tweet accusing Peters of being "the real s*x maniac because he can f**k a whole country at once".
Collins wasn't too pleased with the tweet. She ordered him to remove it from Twitter.
"It's not a term I'd use," she said on her way into caucus on Tuesday.
Asked what she thought of it, Collins said: "Well, it was removed."
Penk said he "didn't want to cause any offence" with the tweet, as he barreled through a press pack in Parliament.
"Yeah look, I didn't want to cause any offence with the framing of the tweet, so I thought I'd err on the side of safety and take it down," he said.
To be fair to Penk, Peters started it. He used his political resuscitation on Sunday to have a crack at everyone including National, describing the party as a mess.
Doubling down on National in an interview, Peters said: "Look at the sex maniacs and the mess they're in."
Collins didn't have a lot to say in response to Peters.
"Yeah... no."
She said Peters "obviously doesn't know us".
Last year National MP Andrew Falloon resigned after sending unsolicited sexual images to women, and this month National candidate Jake Bezzant quit over allegations he impersonated his ex-girlfriend to have cybersex with men.
Neither major party is putting much stock in Peters' return to politics.
"Well I don't think it's going to become an issue because I really don't see him coming back," Collins said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it's "a massive hypothetical at this point in time".
Turning hypothetical into reality likely means plenty more petulance from Peters.
