Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party

The Leader of the Labour Party is the highest ranked politician within the New Zealand Labour Party. He or she serves as the parliamentary leader and leading spokesperson of the party. Since 1 August 2017, the office has been held by Jacinda Ardern, who is the Member of Parliament for Mount Albert.[1]

Leader of the Labour Party
Incumbent
Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern
since 1 August 2017
Term lengthNo fixed term
Inaugural holderAlfred Hindmarsh
Formation7 July 1916
DeputyDeputy Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party
WebsiteLabour Party profile

History

The post of Leader of the Labour Party was officially created upon the party's inception in 1916, though the title "Leader" was often substituted and/or complemented with the title "Chairman". In 1935, Michael Joseph Savage became the first Labour Prime Minister, following a landslide victory. In 1963, Arnold Nordmeyer became the first New Zealand-born Leader of the Labour Party; three previous Leaders had been born in Australia and one each in England and Scotland. The most electorally successful Labour Leader to date is Helen Clark, who won three elections, in 1999, 2002 and 2005. Clark is also the Labour Party's longest-serving leader, having served for 14 years, 346 days between 1993 and 2008.[2] Peter Fraser is the longest-serving Labour Prime Minister, serving 9 years, 261 days between 1940 and 1949.

Selection

The Leader must be a Member of Parliament. A new Leader is elected whenever a vacancy arises, whether due to resignation, incapacitation, or following a motion of no confidence by the parliamentary caucus.[3] Each candidates is put forward by a nominator and seconder in the caucus.[4] Since 2013, the Leader in a contested election is determined by a vote split among the party's caucus, party members and party affiliates (trade unions) in a 40/40/20 split respectively.[5] Prior to 2013, the Leader was elected solely by the caucus (this practice remains for the Deputy Leadership). No later than three months following a general election, there must be a caucus vote to endorse the Leader; if the Leader fails to receive endorsement then an election is triggered.[3]

Role

When the Labour Party forms the Parliamentary Opposition, the Leader of the Party usually acts as the Leader of the Opposition, and chairs a Shadow Cabinet. Likewise, when the party is in Government, as it currently is, the Leader typically becomes the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Unique to Labour, the party's caucus possesses the right to elect MPs to Cabinet, rather than the Leader choosing them. The practice began following the 1940 leadership election.[6] Michael Joseph Savage was the only leader to solely appoint his own cabinet following the election victories in 1935 and 1938.

List of leaders

The following is a complete list of Labour Party leaders (including Acting Leaders):

Key:
  Labour   Reform   United   National
PM: Prime Minister
LO: Leader of the Opposition
†: Died in office

No. Leader
(Birth–Death)		 Portrait Electorate Term Began Term Ended Time in Office Position Prime Minister
1 Alfred Hindmarsh
(1860–1918)		 Wellington South 7 July 1916 13 November 1918† 2 years, 4 months and 6 days — Massey
2 Harry Holland
(1868–1933)		 Grey (1918–19)
Buller (1919-33)		 27 August 1919 8 October 1933† 14 years, 1 month and 11 days —
Bell
LO 1926–1928 Coates
Junior coalition partner
1928–1931		 Ward
LO 1931–1933 Forbes
3 Michael Joseph Savage
(1872–1940)		 Auckland West 12 October 1933 27 March 1940† 6 years, 5 months and 15 days LO 1933–1935
PM 1935–1940 Savage
4 Peter Fraser
(1884–1950)		 Wellington Central (1918–46)
Brooklyn (1946-50)		 1 April 1940 12 December 1950† 10 years, 8 months and 11 days PM 1940–1949 Fraser
LO 1949–1950 Holland
5 Walter Nash
(1882–1968)		 Hutt 17 January 1951 31 March 1963 12 years, 2 months and 14 days LO 1951–1957
Holyoake
PM 1957–1960 Nash
LO 1960–1963 Holyoake
6 Arnold Nordmeyer
(1901–1989)		 Island Bay 1 April 1963 16 December 1965 2 years, 8 months and 15 days LO 1963–1965
7 Norman Kirk
(1923–1974)		 Lyttelton (1957–69)
Sydenham (1969-74)		 16 December 1965 31 August 1974† 8 years, 8 months and 15 days LO 1965–1972
Marshall
PM 1972–1974 Kirk
– Hugh Watt[note 1]
(1912–1980)		 Onehunga 31 August 1974 6 September 1974 7 days PM 1974 Watt
8 Bill Rowling
(1927–1995)		 Tasman 6 September 1974 3 February 1983 8 years, 4 months and 28 days PM 1974–1975 Rowling
LO 1975–1983 Muldoon
9 David Lange
(1942–2005)		 Mangere 3 February 1983 8 August 1989 6 years, 6 months and 5 days LO 1983–1984
PM 1984–1989 Lange
10 Geoffrey Palmer
(born 1942)		 Christchurch Central 8 August 1989 4 September 1990 1 year and 27 days PM 1989–1990 Palmer
11 Mike Moore
(1949–2020)		 Christchurch North 4 September 1990 1 December 1993 3 years, 2 months and 27 days PM 1990 Moore
LO 1990–1993 Bolger
12 Helen Clark
(born 1950)		 Mount Albert 1 December 1993 19 November 2008 14 years, 11 months and 18 days LO 1993–1999
Shipley
PM 1999–2008 Clark
13 Phil Goff
(born 1953)		 Mount Roskill 19 November 2008 13 December 2011 3 years and 24 days LO 2008–2011 Key
14 David Shearer
(born 1957)		 Mount Albert 13 December 2011 15 September 2013 1 year, 9 months and 2 days LO 2011–2013
15 David Cunliffe
(born 1963)		 New Lynn 15 September 2013 30 September 2014 1 year and 15 days LO 2013–2014
– David Parker[note 1]
(born 1960)		 List MP 30 September 2014 18 November 2014 1 month and 19 days LO 2014
16 Andrew Little
(born 1965)		 List MP 18 November 2014 1 August 2017 2 years, 8 months and 14 days LO 2014–2017
English
17 Jacinda Ardern
(born 1980)		 Mount Albert 1 August 2017 Incumbent 3 years, 8 days LO 2017
PM 2017–present Ardern
  1. Deputy leader who assumed the role of party leader temporarily because of the death or resignation of the incumbent, serving until the election of a new leader.
gollark: Obviously conventional things are right because yes.
gollark: It's not like you can't run it under existing capitalistic systems, to some extent.
gollark: The countercounterargument is that workers can be wrong/non-altruistic managementwise too.
gollark: The counterargument is that nonworker management might be good in terms of profit maximization but bad in other ways.
gollark: It could be argued that workers could just make their own company if they think they'd run it better.

See also

References
  1. Trevett, Claire (1 August 2017). "Jacinda Ardern elected as new Labour leader". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  2. Audrey Young (12 February 2008). "Clark beats record of longest-serving Labour leader – probably". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  3. "Constitution and Rules" (PDF). New Zealand Labour Party. 2019. pp. 63–64. Retrieved 19 January 2020 – via New Zealand Electoral Commission.
  4. "Constitution and Rules" (PDF). New Zealand Labour Party. 2019. p. 99. Retrieved 19 January 2020 – via New Zealand Electoral Commission.
  5. "Date confirmed for new Labour leader". The New Zealand Herald. APN News & Media. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  6. Beaglehole, Tim. "Fraser, Peter". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
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