Arron Banks' man in New Zealand election hit by electoral wipe out
Brexit campaign donor and businessman Arron Banks (right) with Leave.EU campaigner Andy Wigmore in 2018. - Credit: AFP via Getty Images
Leave EU's man in the New Zealand has seen his all of his party's seats wiped out in the election.
Winston Peters, leader of New Zealand First, was the country's deputy prime minister as part of the coalition arrangements for Jacinda Ardern's government - working alongside the Greens.
But it was reported he had enlisted the help of Nigel Farage ally and Leave EU officials Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore to help create "mischief" and "mayhem" to dethrone Ardern from power.
Banks and Wigmore have said that they are offering strategic advice to Peters, something the politician denied was part of the plan.
Portraying her as "Jacinderella and the Ugly Sisters", Banks previously said he hoped to increase the power share to 12% to remove the prime minister from her post should she need the support of a coalition again.
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"The bottom line is I believe he's going to do a lot better than people think he's going to do," he said.
"Jacinda (Ardern) is popular, but her party isn't it," he continued.
MORE: Why Arron Banks’ plan to target Jacinda Ardern is not going to plan
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"The way we see it is that the kind of left have tamed the National party. They are just neutered. And so Winston is that one person willing to kind of take the role of the anti-Christ, if you want, to the woke brigade and I think it's a vote winner."
But as Ardern sweeps to a landslide victory, Peters has seen his party lose all of its seats, and his career effectively ended.
Despite polling putting New Zealand First on as a little as 1% last week, he told the media: "We have got a surge going on at the moment for New Zealand First - I can feel it out in the streets and I can see it in the malls."
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