Winston Peters has been fighting a war of words with the media for decades. But he’s adopted a new phrase in his arsenal in recent times: “leftie shill”.

It popped up in the wake of last year’s election campaign and has now come back with a vengeance after the Deputy PM faced a wave of criticism for comparing co-governance to Nazi Germany.

He has since claimed it was in reference to an alleged statement by Te Pati Maori co-leader Rawiri Waititi that Maori DNA was superior.

In a typically combative interview on TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning, he used the phrase “leftie shill” four times.

Some “leftie shill like you” he told Breakfast presenter Anna Burns-Francis, was responsible for stirring up the other issue in Peters’ week – the band Chumbawamba asking him to stop using their song Tubthumping at his rallies because they don’t agree with his politics.

He also referred to the media’s “shill leftie biased message” on a couple of occasions.

So what is a “leftie shill” exactly?

1News

Watch Winston unload on Anna Burns-Francis:

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A contribution from The BFD staff.