'Bully' New Zealand Prime Minister John Key apologises for repeatedly pulling waitress' ponytail

‘He was a like the school yard bully tugging on the little girl’s hair, trying to get a reaction, experiencing that feeling of power over her’

Prime Minister John Key 'just horsing around' (EPA)

New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key has been forced to apologise after he was accused of bullying for repeatedly pulling a waitress’s ponytail over the course of several months.

The waitress, who has not been named, works in a café in Auckland close to Key’s house.

She wrote an anonymous post on The Daily Blog describing how, over a six month period, she went from feeling Mr Key was being “playful and jolly” to causing her to cry in frustration over his repeated hair-tugging.

“He was like the school yard bully tugging the little girl’s hair trying to get a reaction, experiencing that feeling of power over her,” she wrote.

The waitress described how Mr Key’s wife, Bronagh, had told the Prime Minister to “leave the poor girl alone,” while the waitress herself had spoken to the leader’s security detail to ask him to desist.

Eventually, after the waitress called “Please stop or I will actually hit you soon!” after the Prime Minister did he desist.

The Prime Minister told reporters that he had a “fun relationship” with the staff.

“There’s always a lot of horsing around and sort of practical jokes and that’s all there really was to it.

“…I realised she had actually taken offence because it was all in the context of a bit of banter that was going no and so I obviously immediately apologised for that,” he added.

Mr Key had returned to the café to apologise to the waitress and presented her with two bottles of red wine.

She said he left so quickly that she didn’t get the chance to tell him she does not drink red wine.