Hone Heke's War By John Robinson.

Hone Heke is best known for his cutting down the British flag at Kororareka. He had first stepped on to the national stage a few years earlier with a theatrical, grandstanding performance at Waitangi when he pushed ahead of more senior chiefs to be the first to sign the Treaty.

What stood out in former Labour MP John Tamihere’s opening salvo in his bid to return the Maori Party to Parliament by winning Tamaki Makaurau Maori seat was his unashamed twisting of the meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi. He said: