Until yesterday, u/AnswerMeNow1 was the leader of a government he now describes as a government he could "no longer tolerate". Whether he has finally 'seen the light' or has betrayed the people of this nation is debatable, but I tend to lean towards the latter.

He stated that he "held his tongue", that he wanted to create a "strong, left-wing government" against the "neoliberal TOP" - policies that will supposedly hurt New Zealand. But yet, he completely disregards the fact that these are the parties that New Zealanders voted for. New Zealand did not vote for a majority left-wing government, and up until yesterday the now-former Prime Minister appeared to be a somewhat capable leader. We thought he had the ability to compromise, without dismissing his own beliefs, for the good of the country.

It is now apparent that we were wrong.

In a press conference yesterday the Te Poti Maori MP has now turned against all the people who allowed him to become Prime Minister. He referred to the Labour leader and deputy leader as "snakes in the grass" for merging with the Reform party. He completely overlooks the fact that he is not a leader of the Labour party, let alone a member of the Labour party, yet he somehow feels as though he has the authority to dictate its internal party matters.

And then the bombshell hit. u/AnswerMeNow1, former Maori Party leader, former Green Prime Minister, announced that he was defecting to New Zealand First. As u/Winston_Wilhelmus took to the podium in the Beehive, the nation let out a collective gasp. It was something never before seen, for a sitting Green Prime Minister to abruptly resign and join a party seemingly at such odds with his own beliefs. A party which received only just over 2% of the candidate vote, and a party vote even worse than the Pacific Unity Party, in the former-PM's own electorate. How can he possible claim to be working in the interests of his own electorate?

Simple. He cannot.

New Zealand First supports abolishing u/AnswerMeNow1's electorate among other things at odds with the Green Party's manifesto. You would have thought that with this, the now Co-Deputy Leader of NZ First would do the honourable act and resign his seat, as have others in the recent part when leaving parties, such as u/Timewalker102 and myself have done in the past. But there's no sign he will do that, and he says he will continue on as an electorate MP seemingly at odds with the views of his constituents.

What is perhaps most confounding is the lack of reasons put forward for this bizarre flip. Instead he's hit out at his Green co-leader, his Deputy Prime Minister's party, the Labour leadership, the former United Future leader, and the former Reform party leaders.

Perhaps most amusing was the subsequent attempt by NZ First and Socialist Aotearoa to form the Official Opposition, only for the Deputy Leader to resign from the Socialists immediately due to not being informed of the proposed collaboration.

And what does u/AnswerMeNow1 say of all of this to the shocked people of this nation? "You should have seen it coming".

No doubt the people of Te Poti Maori will have the same message for the former PM at the next election.