Having a cappuccino with Winston Peters is an exercise in patience.

As the NZ First leader sips on his coffee at one of his favourite Wellington haunts, The Old Bailey, he's regularly mobbed by members of the public.

"Mr Peters, I'm voting for you...I've voted National most of my life but stuff them," are the words of one middle-aged man in a suit, looking very much like a civil servant and desperate to let Peters know he has his vote.

ROSS GIBLIN/FAIRFAX NZ Winston Peters has star power with the younger generation, who are often asking for selfies.

Spend half an hour with the 71-year-old political celebrity and you'll earn your pay cheque battling to keep his attention.

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Halfway through a conversation about what Peters really thinks about US President-elect Donald Trump, a scruffy looking man with long hair in a ponytail approaches our table and asks if Peters can say hello to his friends Leigh and Jason on the phone.

MAARTEN HOLL/FAIRFAX NZ Winston Peters shares a laugh with then Prime Minister John Key when they met each other heading into the House. It was Key's last Question Time before stepping down.

Ever the people pleaser, Peters obliges and has a chat, telling the two men he's in the middle of an interview. "With a proper journalist?," they ask. "Well yes, I guess you'd call her a proper journalist," Peters shoots back with a chuckle.

Meanwhile, I ask the man who owns the phone just who it is that Peters is chatting to. "Oh, it's Leigh Hart and Jason Hoyte from Radio Hauraki."

The call wraps up, and I ask Peters if he realises he's just been on live radio. He responds, "I don't know, he just told me to speak to them."

ROSS GIBLIN It's been a big political year and Winston Peters is looking forward to not thinking about politics for a while over the summer break.

That's the Northland MP - never too fussed about what he's getting himself into, as long as it's in good fun.

I can't help but ask Peters if he'd paid these adoring fans to turn up.

That cheeky smile and hoarse chuckle flies at me with a quip of, "No, I did not."

Paul Henry Winston Peters insults Paul Henry presenter by commenting that she was "not so bright"

PETERS' EXERCISE REGIME

The year is wrapping up, and it's clear Peters is ready for a holiday as he talks about his plans to give his boat up north a "good scrub-up". However, he's also thinking about next year and the election battle to come.

"My plan is to get myself seriously fit. First of all I'm going to give my boat a scrub - put the goggles on...get it ready...then I'm going to have a serious holiday and forget about politics for a while."

ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Earlier this year Labour and the Greens signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Winston Peters says the move has damaged Labour's brand.

So how does a 71-year-old get fit? A boot camp?

"Something like that," he reckons.

"We know our opponents will be throwing everything at us, which is a sign and barometer of measure of how nervous they are."

Peters is not backwards about coming forwards when it comes to his party's success.

"I think we've had a seriously good year. As with all things, the better the signs look the more impatient a lot of members are for the campaign that's coming."

Election 2017 is going to be huge - "I think we're going to be the strongest we've ever been and by that I mean considerably."

Peters is heading into the election with a three-way fight in mind. "It's going to be National, Labour and NZ First - in our book that is it."

"I don't want to be saying what I think the polls are going to do for obvious reasons but I'm confident about what our polls are going to do and that's all that matters in that context. They're doing very well."

The election is being "won as we speak," says Peters, and it's going to be centred on the economy.

"The politically-correct can barely acknowledge the number one part of consumption growth is immigration. Out there people are starving and homeless because of this - they'll never get a house or even get on the ladder to get a house."

GREENS 'DAMAGE' LABOUR BRAND

According to Peters, Labour were on the right track last year with their controversial Chinese-sounding surnames story, which revealed Chinese buyers accounted for 39.5 per cent of buyers compared to the 9 per cent of Auckland's population recorded as being ethnically Chinese in the last census.

Where they went wrong is that "they lost their nerve".

That was NZ First's "missed opportunity", if Peters had to name one.

"We got the Chinese names story but we didn't run with it because I didn't have time to quantify it and it was clear to me they weren't going to give us time."

He won't say whether his party would have done a better job of handling it - "I'm not going to knock Labour so close to Christmas".

However, he is critical of their memorandum of understanding with the Greens, dismissing suggestions his criticism is based on his well-known dislike for the party.

"It's not about the Greens - it damages the Labour brand. This is a 100-year-old party that used to stand for something.

"From a strategic point of view I can't figure out why they did it."

Does he think Labour has it in them to beat National? Peters won't go there, but says it's clear that "[Bill] English isn't a game-changer", regardless of what the opposition or media say.

WHY DID JOHN KEY LEAVE?

He also doubts former Prime Minister John Key left for the family and personal reasons he stated.

"When Key says he told English in September [that he was leaving] and English appears in front of [the media] as absolutely flummoxed in the first few hours of that announcement, I tend to say that's not true.

"English's reaction was so unprepared for me to say it's fathomable - he had three months to get ready."

Whoever the opposition, NZ First is ready for battle, and already has more than 105 nominees wanting to stand in various electorates from Invercargill to Kaitaia.

"We'll announce some candidates who will be a surprise to media but they're people who have had enough. You'll know who they are, they're prominent people," he says.

If the party hasn't got the right person they won't put them up, but the old approach of seeking the party vote has gone out the window and next year will be a strong combination of winning electorates and picking up the party vote.

"We've got MPs at both ends of the country and now we're going to fill in the middle, so to speak."

But it might not be all the same faces come the campaign trail. Peters says he hasn't formally asked each of his eleven MPs whether they'll be back for the election, but it's possible one or two might throw in the towel.