A new Government exercises the levers of powerKEVIN STENT/STUFF Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ran a remarkably assured election campaign but she is new to the demands of power. OPINION: It's always interesting to watch a new Government bedding in, and never more so than when the Labour Party gets its hands on the levers of power after squirming with impatience on the Opposition benches for several terms. National regards itself as the natural party of Government, which is perhaps understandable when it's been in power for 47 of the past 68 years. Now we find ourselves once again watching a new Labour Government – or at least a Labour-led one – grappling with the unfamiliar demands of power. To all those pressures, add a large and formidable National Party Opposition, still seething because it believes it was shafted in post-election coalition negotiations that were controlled and manipulated by Peters.

Source: Stuff December 12, 2017 07:52 UTC