New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has accused the Government of gross hypocrisy for twice offering him diplomatic postings yet now rejecting him and his party as potential coalition partners.
Mr Peters says approaches in 2009 and 2010 through the office of Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully to represent New Zealand overseas would not have been made without the knowledge of Prime Minister John Key.
Mr Peters has told Waatea News that the offers - which he declined - were clearly designed to get him out of the way come election time and weaken the vote of the ordinary New Zealander.
