Zach Castles: Meet the conservative who could become New Zealand’s first Maori Prime Minister

Polling well, more than financially buoyant and administratively competent and unified, the National Party is in a strong position.

Daniel Hannan: Being good at governing is no guarantee of re-election – just ask Harper and Key

Voters habitually opt for parties of the Right when times are tough, only to ditch them for the Left once there’s money to spare. But now populists seek to break the cycle.

Terry Barnes: A disaster for the centre-right. Its last effective Anglosphere government falls in New Zealand

It has been dispatched by one man – New Zealand First’s party leader, Winston Peters, who has Labour’s inexperienced leader in his pocket.

Terry Barnes: British conservatives should watch the New Zealand election campaign closely

A solid but unspectacular centre-right Prime Minister, with a good economic record, is trying to fight off a charismatic, high-spending challenge from the left.