Sir John Key has revealed he is a huge fan of the AM Show and Mark Richardson specifically, gifting him a box of golf balls, and telling him he loves him because he is the "voice of reason".
Sir John appeared on The AM Show ahead of receiving his knighthood on Wednesday.
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Sir John presented Richardson with a box of golf balls, but joked about having nothing for the other two hosts Amanda Gillies and Duncan Garner.
"I love you. You are the voice of reason," Sir John told Richardson.
Turning his attention to politics, Sir John said he thought Labour made the right move by changing its leader to Jacinda Ardern.
"The camera likes Jacinda. Paul Holmes once said to me, 'On TV they see your heart', so she responds well to that. That works really well for her. I don't think it will be enough to get her over the line, but I think she will do substantially better than Andrew Little."
"In the end, people want to vote for people that they like, so that helps them a lot," Sir John said.
But Sir John continues to back National and is certain the party will win the election, with Labour likely pulling around 30 percent of the vote.
Bill English is "proven and that team is proven."
"One of the reasons I think National will win is because… they have this amazing team. It doesn't really matter how far deep you go, right through the party there's an enormous amount of talent."
Newshub.