History of the National Party

The New Zealand National Party was formed in Wellington on the 13th and 14th of May 1936. It grew out of the coalition government of the Reform and Liberal Parties, which had formed the wartime National Government in 1915. The Reform Party had been essentially a rural based party, whereas the Liberals were dominated by city based concerns. These two parties united to form an alternative to the socialist Labour Government. The name "National" was chosen as the new party sought to represent all parts of the community.

The Party grew quickly and by the Third Party Conference in August 1938, shortly before the election, there were over 100,000 members. George Forbes, the United Party Leader opened the conference which formed the National Party in May 1936 and was Leader of the Opposition until October 1936 when Adam Hamilton was elected as the first Leader of the National Party.  Hamilton led the Party into its first election in 1938. This election proved to be very disappointing with the number of National members rising from a mere 19 to 25 seats out of 80, well short of becoming the Government.

The onset of war saw National members entering a War Cabinet with the Labour Government of Peter Fraser. In 1940 Sid Holland was elected to be the Leader of the Party. He led the Party into the 1943 election and National reduced Labour's majority from 28 seats to just 12.

National's first woman Member of Parliament was Mrs Hilda Ross in the May 1945 by election in Hamilton. The 1946 election saw the removal of the "Country Quota", which had increased the number of rural seats, and this cost National victory.  National won 38 of the General Electorate seats, the same as Labour, but the four Maori electorates remained firmly in Labour's hands.  In the wake of the defeat Keith Holyoake was chosen as Deputy Leader in 1947. At the first meeting of the Dominion Executive of the Party following the election in March 1947, a Marginal Seats Committee was formed. Eight Labour held seats were heavily targeted to take National to the treasury benches.

National takes the reins

When New Zealand went to the polls in 1949, of those 8 seats only Timaru was not won by National. National swept in to power winning 46 of a possible 80. After 13 years of opposition the National Party finally took office.

The First National Government faced its gravest challenge in the 1951 waterfront dispute. The industrial unrest caused many difficulties for the Government. Holland consulted his cabinet and senior party officials and called a snap election. The campaign contrasted the strong leadership of Holland versus the older Labour leader Walter Nash. National won by a landslide. Winning 54% of all votes cast National pushed its majority to 20 seats from 12, with 50 out of the 80 seats.

The Government gradually deregulated the economy from the austerity of wartime. The Korean War meant a booming demand for New Zealand's products. However the election in 1954 saw National's vote drop by nearly 100,000. This was largely due to the emergence of the Social Credit Political League. National retained its majority but lost 5 seats. Cabinet was reshuffled and many new younger faces brought in.

Holland became increasingly ill in 1956. Keith Holyoake was elected leader on 13th August 1957. Five weeks later Holland resigned as Prime Minister and Holyoake formed his own Cabinet on the 20th of September. Holland retired at the 1957 election and died four years later.

Holyoake : Over Eleven Years as PM

Keith Jacka Holyoake had left school at the age of 12, when his father had become ill. He worked his father's farm and was educated by his mother at night. He later became very active in the community, particularly with rugby union and the Farmers Union. At the age of 53, he succeeded Sid Holland. He was known as an extremely astute chairman of Cabinet and Caucus. He encouraged consensus and compromise in decision-making.

The 1957 election campaign was not successful for National. The late leadership change, Labour's promise of a 100 pound tax rebate, and a weaker National party organisation resulted in Labour winning 41 to National's 39.  The National vote dropped only slightly but Labour had taken votes at Social Credit's expense.  Mr Holyoake had been Prime Minister for just 70 days and he almost immediately set out to return to that office.

By mid-1958, Holyoake had Labour on the run. The Labour Government's Black Budget of 1958 saw a collapse in Labour's electoral support.  Holyoake criss-crossed the country from May 1959 to take his message to the people. During 1960 he undertook a six-week tour of Asia as the Leader of Opposition and greatly improved our Asian relations. The heavy tax increases and vigorous National campaign unseated Labour. National restored to power with 46 seats and a majority of 12. One of the new MPs was Mr R.D Muldoon from Tamaki.

New Zealand's "Golden Years"

The new Holyoake Government worked to implement 215 Bills in its term. It brought through 156 in the first session.  Government legislation ranged from revision of the Crimes Act to changes to the liquor laws. This led the 1963 election to be fought on memories of the unpopular Labour Government and the successful National Government. National only lost a net one seat.

From 1964 the Vietnam War began to dominate the news.  Labour installed Norm Kirk as leader in 1966 and he decided not to use Vietnam as an issue in the 1966 election. This election campaign was Holyoake's stormiest.  There were near riots at his election meetings in the main cities and TV began to play a part in the campaign. However, National lost a net of just one seat, not to Labour, but to Social Credit.

Muldoon enters Cabinet as Finance Minister

Muldoon was appointed to Cabinet in February 1967, three weeks later, Harry Lake then Minister of Finance died. Muldoon was appointed to the post. Not long after assuming the post Muldoon introduced his first mini - budget, which bore the hallmark of his piecemeal and interventionist style.

National tried to fight the 1969 election over the success of its National Development Conference. Again the Vietnam war dominated, protesters brawling with police and Holyoake mobbed. Muldoon was used to attack Kirk and revelled in the higher profile he now had. In an increased Parliament of 84 seats, National won 45 and Labour 39.

Holyoake announced his retirement at Caucus on February 2 1972. Jack Marshall, Holyoake’s long time deputy, succeeded him. Marshall was highly respected for his work in negotiation for trade access with the European Economic Community. He took over a National Party in election year that was 16 points behind in the opinion polls, Muldoon was elected deputy leader.

The Labour Party under Norm Kirk inflicted a severe defeat on the National Party in the 1972 election. Their "Time for Change" campaign and Norm Kirk's television persona were too much for the more retiring Marshall. National was left with 32 seats out of 87.  Among the new MPs elected that year was Jim Bolger.

Robert Muldoon, a former Accountant and the MP for Tamaki became the leader of a shattered National Party in July 1974. The caucus saw Muldoon as the man capable of taking on Norm Kirk. Other major changes were made to the organisation. A new President was elected George Chapman and a new Director General in Barrie Leay. They developed a highly successful advertising campaign for the coming election.

National barnstorms the nation in 1975

Kirk died in office and was replaced by Bill Rowling. Rowling lived in the shadow of Kirk. Muldoon barnstormed the country in 1975, his most famous meeting of that campaign was at the Wiri Woolstore where he spoke to a crowd of 6500. Muldoon, the master debater, was highly successful on television, which had come of age as a primary campaigning medium. A highly successful advertising campaign put National into power with a massive majority.

They exactly reversed Labour's 1972 result, with a 23-seat majority.

Initially, Muldoon appeared to begin reforming the economy and eliminate the budget deficit. Soon Muldoon began moving toward a more regulated and interventionist approach.  By the 1978 election, National's share of the vote fell from 48% to 40%. Only superior National organisation in key marginal seats retained power, albeit with 51 seats, a majority of just 10 seats, in the 92 seat Parliament. Social Credit also gained one seat.

In October of 1980, Muldoon's leadership came under challenge in the so called "Colonels' Coup."  Three able young ministers Quigley, McLay and Jim Bolger looked to replace Muldoon with his deputy Brian Talboys. However Talboys was unwilling and once Muldoon returned from his overseas trip, he set about retaining power. Muldoon managed to head off the challenge.

The 1981 election was dominated by the aftermath of the Springbok Tour and by the "Think Big" plans.  Think Big aimed to invest public money into major energy projects, that would provide alternatives to oil following the two oil price-hike shocks of the 1970s.  National held 47 seats to Labour's 43 each with 39% of the vote and Social Credits 2 seats (with a popular vote of 20%). This lead to a majority of just one following the appointment of a Speaker who at that time had a no deliberative vote.

Muldoon as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance imposed his will on the economy through mini budgets and a freeze of wages and prices.

There were however some more reformist actions. In 1983 Jim Bolger introduced Voluntary Unionism legislation and also in the post of Minister of Labour, he freed up shop trading hours. He was seen as a mix of Holland, Holyoake and Muldoon and pushed for a more balanced approach to the economy.

The Clyde Dam Bill, which fast-tracked development of the hydro generating station, was among the actions that caused Muldoon to lose the support of a number of MPs.  Maverick National MPs Marilyn Waring and Mike Minogue threatened the fragile majority. In March 1984, National elected Jim McLay to be its Deputy Leader. He had strong appeal with more liberal sections of society and the business sector.

After falling to gain the support of Marilyn Waring over Nuclear Ship legislation, Muldoon called a snap election held on 14 July 1984. This was despite warnings from Party President Sue Wood that the party organisation was completely unprepared.

The New Zealand Party formed by former National supporter, Bob Jones took away traditional National support across the country securing 12% of the vote. Divisions and defections in National and the charismatic Labour leader David Lange took National's share of the vote to just 36% of the vote and 37 of 95 seats.

In November 1984, Muldoon was voted out in favour of a new leadership team.  Jim McLay became Leader and Jim Bolger his Deputy. McLay took over a traumatised National Party. Muldoon undermined him in the media and his supporters put pressure on the McLay leadership.

McLay, did not find television easy and he fell behind in the polls as he failed to put pressure on the Labour Government.  In early 1986 James Brendan Bolger, MP for King Country took over as Leader.

Outflanked on the right by Labour

He took National into battle against a Lange Government in full flight. Big business funded Labour's campaign as the sharemarket boomed. Urban, liberal New Zealand that had voted for the New Zealand Party in 1984, now voted Labour as they got rich quick. While National gained 44% of the vote in the 1987 election, winning 40 seats 17 behind Labour with 48%. National was only hundreds of votes from losing urban strongholds like Remuera, but held onto the likes of Timaru. However soon after the election the sharemarket crashed and the economy slammed into recession. There was rapidly rising unemployment and negative economic growth.  The new member for Ashburton elected in 1987 was Jenny Shipley.

The 1990s Mandate

National came to the front of the polls and stayed there. In 1990, National won an astounding 67 seats of a possible 97. This was the largest majority in New Zealand's Parliamentary history. The fourth National government took steps to rein in ballooning public spending and put the books in order. They succeeded and brought the Budget in to surplus in 1994. With an export-led recovery New Zealand began to boom and unemployment fell through the 1990s after peaking at 10.9% in 1991.

During the first term of the fourth National Government, Cabinet Minister Winston Peters made public his disagreement with the direction of some of the Government's policy. In October 1991 he was dismissed from Cabinet. He resigned from the National caucus in October 1992, and was not selected to be the National candidate again in his Tauranga Electorate. Winston Peters established a centrist party called NZ First.

The 1993 election was fought on the basis of the rapidly expanding recovery. While most pundits had National in with a comfortable majority, election night delivered a shock. It appeared that there would be a hung parliament, with National unable to establish clear majority. As Prime Minister Bolger said, "Bugger the pollsters". The return of special votes established that National's Alec Neill had in fact won the seat of Waitaki. Peter Tapsell the Labour Member of Parliament for Eastern Maori became the Speaker of the House and National had a majority of two, having won 50 of the 99 seats with 35% of the vote. 1993 saw a combined third party vote of 27% for New Zealand First and Alliance.

Also that night a referendum on electoral systems established that Mixed Member Proportional representation would be used for future elections, replacing First Past the Post. Thus the 1994-96 term of Parliament was dominated by manoeuvring in advance of MMP. Many new parties formed but only six were elected to Parliament in the 1996 MMP election.

Life under MMP

The election night results, as predicted, were inconclusive with National gaining 34%, similar to 1993, and winning 44 out of the 120 seats in Parliament. After almost nine weeks of post-election coalition talks with NZ First which had won 13% of the party vote giving it 17 seats, a coalition was agreed between the two parties and a National/NZ First Government was sworn in with 61 seats out of 120 in the House. The right-wing Act party had 6%.

The public took some time to get used to consensus-style coalition government.  The unpopularity of NZ First also rubbed off on National.  National's public poll ratings reached record lows.

In December 1997 Jenny Shipley replaced Jim Bolger as Leader of the National Party and Prime Minister. Mrs Shipley became both the National Party’s first woman leader, and also New Zealand’s first woman Prime Minister. In August 1998 Winston Peters was sacked as Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister. NZ First left the Coalition Government, however a number of MPs resigned from NZ First and were committed to supporting the Government. 

National continued in power as a minority Government, similar to many in Europe, with the support also of Act, United and independent MPs.  Despite these challenges National successfully enacted further important reforms, enabling greater competition and consumer choice across a number of industries.

The change of leadership, coupled with a major Cabinet re-shuffle in January 1999, saw National entering the election campaign with a fresher, and more centrist team.

In October 2001 Bill English became National's Leader and Roger Sowry the Deputy Leader.  By October 2003 a mood for change resulted in the election of Don Brash as Leader of the National Party, with Bill English moving to a front bench seat. After a short period as Deputy Leader, Nick Smith was replaced by Gerry Brownlee.

2005 and on

At the 2005 election National came agonisingly close to taking power after Don Brash and his team managed to almost double National’s party vote and number of MPs.

In late 2006, Don Brash decided to step down as leader. Finance Spokesman, John Key, was elected Leader and Bill English as Deputy Leader.

John Key will bring fresh leadership to New Zealand. He and National are ambitious for New Zealand and determined to deliver a National-led Government in 2008.