The New Zealand First leader is the Godfather of Parliament; not only has he been there off and on since 1979, but he has a Don Corleone-like knowledge of the infights, feuds and cosy arrangements made in all Parliaments in the past 40 years.
He has buried any number of promising political careers, and is definitely not someone whose wrath you would want to incur.
Mr Peters has been in Southeast Asia this week in his capacity as Foreign Minister, but before he left he gave a typically "Winston" interview with Duncan Garner - part disputatious, part amiable, but always entertaining.
Right at the end he was asked about the KiwiSaver (Oranga Tamariki Guardians) Amendment Bill, a Member's Bill sponsored by Mr Walker which aims to allow foster parents to open KiwiSaver accounts for children in their care.
When asked if the Government could not agree to allow those children to have KiwiSaver accounts, Mr Peters said "nothing was wrong with that" and he pledged to "sort it out".
Such a promise cost Mr Peters nothing; the Bill as it stands has unanimous support from all parties.
However, Mr Walker's Bill was amended at the select committee stage in such a way that it greatly reduced the number of children eligible to have accounts opened for them - a change which Mr Walker has previously said he would try to reverse when the Bill returned to Parliament.
Mr Walker leaped upon Mr Peters' comments with Tigger-like glee, bouncing around proclaiming that New Zealand First was going to support his amendment when the Bill was debated again on Wednesday ... even though Mr Peters did not explicitly say so.
Adding fuel to the fire, Sam Stubbs of not-for-profit KiwiSaver company Simplicity then wrote an opinion piece which said not only Mr Peters but also Minister for Children Tracey Martin supported Mr Walker's amendment.
Ms Martin, who in May's second reading debate had carefully explained why New Zealand First was very unlikely to support Mr Walker's amendment, was away from Parliament at a meeting when the committee stages began.
However, she hot-footed it back to the Debating Chamber and clearly was far from impressed at having to explain herself again, even asking to whom she should take a complaint about misleading the committee.
She was backed by fellow NZ First MP Darroch Ball, who fired out a press release complaining that the party's stance on the Bill had been misrepresented.
Not that any of this deterred an exuberant Mr Walker, who after his amendment was defeated - but his Bill passed for third reading - dispatched a press release of his own which said it was disappointing New Zealand First had not backed Mr Peters' commitment to support his amendment.
Mr Walker may well need to employ a wartime consigliere sooner rather than later.
If at first you don't succeed
Speaker Trevor Mallard was in a decidedly grumpy mood on Thursday, and even the usually impeccably behaved Invercargill Labour list MP Liz Craig fell foul of his temper.
Her patsy question to Education Minister Chris Hipkins was ruled out for containing an assertion, then ruled out again for the same reason, before her third attempt was met with "That's three strikes; that's the end of that question."
Civil discourse
On Tuesday Dunedin South Labour MP Clare Curran gently rebuked colleague Kieran McAnulty, after she acknowledged National's Nathan Guy, who had earlier announced he would stand down at the next election.
"Oh, this is getting silly," Mr McAnulty said, but Ms Curran defended what she termed a mark of respect and acknowledgement.
"I had a bit to do with him in his role with civil defence, I always saw him as a pretty straight-up chap, so good luck with whatever you do next."
Jacqui Dean was eager to record her congratulations to Kai Pai Bakery in Wanaka for its achievements at this year's pie awards ... not only as her party's small business spokeswoman but also as a provider of a good on-the-run feed for a busy local MP.
