Former Labour MP Stuart Nash is returning to politics as a New Zealand First candidate, officially confirming widespread speculation the former Cabinet minister is ditching his Labour affiliations.

The Herald can reveal Nash will contest the Napier electorate for NZ First, a seat he held for three terms before he left politics after being sacked from Cabinet by then Prime Minister and current Labour leader Chris Hipkins in 2023.

Nash is also addressing the controversial comment he made last year about women for the first time in a media interview, admitting he is deeply regretful and accepts not all voters will forgive him as he eyes a return to Parliament.

“I would be naive to think all New Zealanders will forgive me,” Nash told the Herald.

“Some will think that these comments are who I am and the only way to prove them wrong is actually just to work really hard to prove that I’m actually a man who is respectful to everyone.”

It comes as Nash fires a broadside at his former party, which he believes wouldn’t be recognised by its icons of the past, including his great-grandfather Sir Walter Nash, a former Labour leader and Prime Minister.

“Some would argue that maybe the Labour Party has done its dash, maybe what is now needed is a pragmatic party that does stand up for good, hard-working Kiwis.”

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says he sees Nash as a Cabinet minister in a future Government, telling the Herald Nash has learned from his mistakes while revealing Nash’s comments about women did make Peters question whether Nash could achieve a political comeback.

Nash, 58, was first elected as a Labour list MP in 2008. Unable to return in 2011, Nash won the Napier electorate in 2014 and held it for two subsequent terms.

Stuart Nash was a minister for Labour across two terms. Photo / George Novak

He rose through the ranks to become a minister in Cabinet from 2017, when Labour governed in coalition with NZ First and again in 2020, when Labour secured its single-party majority. Nash held significant portfolios including police, revenue and fisheries.

However, multiple breaches of the rules governing Cabinet ministers eventually led to Hipkins sacking him in March 2023. His breaches included appearing to encourage the then Police Commissioner to appeal a judge’s sentencing, asking a senior official to look into an immigration matter concerning a Napier constituent and violating Cabinet’s principles of collective responsibility and confidentiality by revealing Cabinet details to two businessmen, who had also donated to Nash.

After leaving politics, Nash joined recruitment company Robert Walters, became a board member of the Taxpayers’ Union and started his own firm, Nash Kelly Global, which helped facilitate the entry of wealthy individuals into New Zealand.

In the meantime, a chance encounter between Nash and Peters in 2024 sparked a conversation in which Nash expressed his interest in NZ First, and he was invited by Peters to discuss the prospect of joining the party.

Nash outed his intention to return to Parliament when he appeared as a guest speaker at NZ First’s annual convention in September last year, a signal NZ First was seeking to make inroads into Labour’s blue-collar base.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters (right) sitting with Stuart Nash at the party's 2025 convention. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In his speech, Nash proclaimed NZ First as the only party focused on core issues while criticising his former party as “woke” and claiming Hipkins had “stabbed him in the back”.

While Nash wouldn’t directly answer questions about joining NZ First at the time, Peters then said Nash would be a “seamless” addition to his party.

Only days after the convention, Nash appeared on the media outlet The Platform and when asked to define a woman, he replied: “A person with a p***y and a pair of t**s.”

The comment led to Nash resigning from Robert Walters and the Taxpayers’ Union board. He was also dumped from a Government trade trip to the United States after being deemed a “distraction”.

In a LinkedIn post shortly after making the comment, Nash apologised for the “crude and disrespectful remark” and promised he would “work hard to rectify this”.

Nine months later, speaking from his home on Napier’s Marine Parade, Nash told the Herald he “deeply, deeply regret[ted]” the comment.

“Oh if I could take those back, I would do it in a heartbeat,” he said.

“The disappointment articulated to me by my wife, my mother and my daughters; nothing will come close to the scolding I got from them.

“Then they realised, ‘The guy stuffed up, let’s back him and let’s forgive him’.”

Stuart Nash is addressing his comment from last year for the first time. Photo / Warren Buckland

Nash described the “brutal” backlash from his “extremely poor attempt at humour” lasting for weeks. He remembered hearing a Newstalk ZB caller claim he had offended 95% of New Zealanders.

Nash said the NZ First leadership had told him at the time to keep his head down and stay out of the media, Nash himself acknowledging he had let down his family, the party and Peters.

“Luckily, Winston is the type of man who believes that people make mistakes and gives people a second chance.”

The former MP’s main competition in Napier is current MP Katie Nimon, a young woman considered a promising prospect in the National Party.

Nash said he accepted not all voters would forget or forgive his comment.

“But the only way to counter that is to get out there and work really hard, to prove to people that those comments are not who Stuart Nash is.”

While under scrutiny for his breaches of the Cabinet Manual, it was largely accepted Nash hadn’t been acting in his own interests, but it could not be denied he fell foul of the rules.

“I made a mistake, I got it wrong, I own it,” Nash said, while standing by the intent of his actions.

“The thing I’ve always done my whole life is accepted responsibility when I’ve got it wrong, I own it but I don’t want it to define my career.

“I’m not the sort of guy who whinges and bitches about how tough life is, I just get up, dust myself off and move forward and I’m really keen to do that.”

Stuart Nash (left) was sacked from Cabinet by then Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (right). Photo / George Heard

He credited Peters for publicly supporting him during that time, while noting Hipkins didn’t do the same.

Nash appears to have backed away from his 2025 claim Hipkins stabbed him in the back, replying, “No”, when asked if he stood by the comment before describing the Labour leader as a “mate”.

“I don’t hold any animosity towards Chris,” Nash said.

“The first time Chris and I bump into each other at Copperfield’s [Parliament cafe], I’ll shake his hand, I’ll say gidday to him, I’ll say it’s a shame another three years in Opposition but I’m not going to avoid him, I’ll just concentrate on working incredibly hard.”

However, Nash did not hold back in alleging Hipkins had led Labour away from its traditional values and transformed the party into something that would be unrecognisable to his great-grandfather.

“It seems nowadays that Labour MPs are more at home in university common rooms than they are in the nation’s smoko rooms or in rugby clubs and I just think that Labour has lost touch.

“I think New Zealand First is the only political party that has solutions, that has a plan, that has a vision.”

If elected as Napier’s MP or via the list (Nash says the party vote is his main focus), Nash would bring much-needed central government experience to the party’s caucus, which Nash acknowledged before saying he needed to earn back the trust of the party and voters.

“With nearly six years of Cabinet experience, I do bring a level of experience that I think can help New Zealand First but having said that, I’m well aware that I’ve got to work incredibly hard to prove that I am worthy.”

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters (left) fronted media alongside Stuart Nash at his party's 2025 convention. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Peters: Nash is a future Cabinet minister

Speaking to the Herald, Peters was unequivocal when asked if he believed Nash could be a Cabinet minister if NZ First was part of the next Government.

“No doubt about it, yes.

“Stuart Nash understands the working people of this country and he’s demonstrated that over a long time and that’s a critical component we need in this Parliament if we are to make a recovery.”

Peters lauded Nash for the successful, albeit delayed, achievement of realising NZ First’s 2017 policy to increase police numbers by 1800 while Nash was Police Minister.

Peters, also a fan of Nash’s style of campaigning, was so impressed that he told Nash during that term he was “in the wrong party”. While Nash maintains a shift to NZ First wasn’t considered then, he now concedes Peters was “probably right”.

The NZ First leader remained convinced Nash was given a raw deal when he was sacked from Cabinet, saying he wouldn’t have sacked Nash or taken away ministerial portfolios, believing it only warranted a telling-off.

“There are always parameters when wrongful behaviour shades into rightful behaviour because the circumstances demand it,” Peters said.

“If you can avoid it publicly, yes, but I’d rather some enthusiastic minister get it wrong now and again than a blasé, no-performance minister getting it wrong all the time by doing nothing.”

Nash’s comments to The Platform crossed a line in Peters’ eyes. The party leader, renowned for his disapproval of bad language, admitted it had concerned him but he was now comfortable it had been resolved.

“That’s the one that would have concerned me, whether that was a redeemable matter, and I’ve got no doubt it is.

“I said, ‘Get this past your wife, then I’ll talk to you’. I was assured that his wife would have given him a suitable ticking-off and correct him.

“If he can get past her, then it’s good enough for me.”

Stuart Nash (right) with his wife Sarah Nash, pictured in 2023. Photo / Warren Buckland

Peters didn’t appear concerned female voters would look dimly on his party for welcoming Nash into the fold.

“Women will always have different views, but then let me tell you, most women can understand how a man can make a flippant statement like that.

“And dare I say it, I’ve been in company where I’ve heard a woman make some pretty flippant statements as well, but I’ve not reported it.

“The public needs people like [Nash], maybe they made the odd mistake, that’s redeemable, but we need Members of Parliament who know what the hell they’re doing here.”

Alongside Nash’s criticism of Hipkins, Nash in 2023 said of Christopher Luxon that he “smiles to your face but stabs you in the back” after the National leader called for Nash’s immediate resignation from Parliament in 2023 and claimed Nash’s breaches were akin to “insider trading”.

Peters was resolute when asked whether he was concerned about Nash’s ability to work with other parties.

“Potential coalition partners have to live [up] to a thing called political reality or what is known as realpolitik, [which is that Stuart Nash] is going to be a New Zealand First MP and Cabinet minister.”

Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.