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Winston Peters had a hell of a month.

While many other MPs spent the two-week Parliamentary Easter recess period having a break from politics, Peters was hustling.

On April 1, he arrived in Egypt before heading to Poland, then to Belgium for top-level NATO meetings, then to Sweeden.

After that, he was off to the US to speak at the UN and then to meet with US Secretary of State Anthoney Blinken, before returning to New Zealand, and getting on another plane a few days later to speak at the Gallipoli service in Turkey for ANZAC day.

He’s won considerable praise for his overseas efforts.

And he didn’t stop there.

Less than a week after he arrived home, he delivered a pivotal foreign affairs speech at Parliament; seen by some as the starkest view of New Zealand’s geopolitical position in a decade.

That speech, too, was well received – with the notable exception of Labour-aligned commentators.

Put simply: Peters was firing on all cylinders - proving once again why he’s one of the greatest, and most respected, Foreign Affairs Ministers in New Zealand’s history.

But back home, it was a different story.

While Peters was rubbing shoulders with the most powerful people on the planet, 1��һ�ǿ�����’ pollsters were in the field.

Instead of rewarding Peters’ mammoth diplomatic outreach - voters punished the New Zealand First leader in the polls.

His party had dropped below 5 percent support; meaning without an electorate seat - he and New Zealand First would once again be out of Parliament.

From the grand halls of the UN to political oblivion in New Zealand - politics is a fickle, harsh game.

In trademark fashion, Peters was not navel gazing. He offered no insight or analysis for the loss in support.

All he could muster to the poor reporter brave enough to ask him what he made of the result was that he didn’t “give a rat’s derriere”.

It’s what’s known in the business as a “classic Winston” comment.

To some, the drop in support may come as a surprise.

Peters’ overseas success was well covered by New Zealand media and he won praise from all corners of the political and media landscape.

How could he have dropped in the polls?

History tells us while Winston the statesman is incredibly popular in the Wellington beltway, he loses support in the rest of the country.

When Peters is firmly in New Zealand First leader mode, the beltway braces while his base bolsters.

It’s the Jekyll and Hyde balancing act that has held the balance of power three times.

Should Peters and the Coalition be worried that, based on this poll, they would lose their grip on power?

No.

One poll does not an election make - especially two and a half years out from polling day.

There’s a tsunami of water to flow under the political bridge before then.

And, as if on queue, Winston the statesman stepped aside for Winston the scrapper in the latter half of the week.

He picked a fight with former Aussie Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr – Carr had been highly critical of Peters position on AUKUS.

Carr hit first, saying AUKUS pillar two was “fragrant, methane-wrapped bullshit” and accused the Government of cozying up to the US.

Peters hit back, having a crack at Carr’s relationship with China on RNZ – comments Carr says were defamatory.

Not that Peters cares.

“You might be cowed by threats of legal action,” he told reporters on Friday morning, “[but] I'm not”.

“This is not my first legal rodeo.”

With each word he was less Foreign Minister, and more NZ First leader.

Exactly where he wants to be.

Wellington’s beltway might be cringing.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark took to X (formally known as Twitter) to vent her frustration.

“If this is what passes for NZ diplomacy today, then the country really cannot be expected to be taken seriously anywhere or by anyone,” she said.

But Peters is not trying to impress his old boss.

New Zealand First’s base love to see their man in action.

Who better to piss off than a former Labor Foreign Affairs Minister who Peters has accused of sticking his nose in New Zealand’s business, and a former Labour Prime Minister who, for all intents and purposes, fired him from Cabinet.

Peters’ supporters might not have been watching him at the UN; they might have missed his speech at Gallipoli and not read about his meeting with Blinken.

But they’re sure as hell watching Winston Peters take on institutional Labour Party elite – and they’re hanging on his every word.