John Key developing a spine?

Could it be that John Key is actually muscling up...losing that schoolboy impish grin and becoming the Master of his party?

Certainly the rhetoric has changed somewhat in past weeks. Now we see him holding Nick Smith's hair by the ahem...short and curlies and notice how Johnnie's lingo has lengthened into a more stylish adaptation of the English language -especially when he used the word "bollocking" to describe his conversation with Internal Affairs minister Richard Worth.

Suddenly the PR machine has taken hold and it now appears that it's vital for the PM to appear accountable, strong, resolute, in complete and utter bollocking control of his ministers, and hold on....just like Helen Clark it seems.

The man you'd most feel comfortable having a beer with is shifting away from his 'nice guy' image and has issued threats to his ministers, stating he wants accountability, outcomes and results and if anyone needs to be strung up, a la Mussolini style, he alone will be the one to do it.

And what over? Nick Smith, a senior minister is not even allowed to make suggestions on cutting down plastic waste, while Worth made an idiot error of judgement in allowing himself to engage in private business while on a Government sanctioned trip to India.

But do we like the new John Key? Time will tell but for now punters it's fair to say as in the great words of that Seekers song "The Carnival is Over".