New Zealand National Party
The New Zealand National Party, often shortened to National, or the Nats, is a centre-right political party in New Zealand that is the current senior governing party. It is one of two major parties that dominate contemporary New Zealand politics, alongside its traditional rival, the Labour Party.
National formed in 1936 through amalgamation of conservative and liberal parties, Reform and United respectively, and subsequently became New Zealand's second-oldest extant political party. National's predecessors had previously formed a coalition against the growing labour movement. National has governed for six periods during the 20th and 21st centuries, and has spent more time in government than any other New Zealand party.
After the 1949 general election, Sidney Holland became the first prime minister from the National Party, and remained in office until 1957. Keith Holyoake succeeded Holland, and was defeated some months later at a general election by the Labour Party in 1957. Holyoake returned to office for a second period from 1960 to 1972. The party's platform shifted from moderate economic liberalism to increased emphasis on state interventionism during Robert Muldoon's National government from 1975 to 1984. In 1990, Jim Bolger formed another National government, which continued the radical free-market reforms initiated by the preceding Labour government. The party has since advocated free enterprise, reduction of taxes, and limited state regulation. Following the first MMP election in 1996, the National Party governed in a coalition with the populist New Zealand First Party. National Party leader Jenny Shipley became New Zealand's first female prime minister in 1997; her government was defeated by a Labour-led coalition in 1999.
The National Party was in government from 2008 to 2017 under John Key and Bill English; it governed with support from the centrist United Future, the classical-liberal ACT Party and the indigenous-rights-based Māori Party. In the 2017 general election, despite leaving government, the party secured 44.4 percent of the vote and won 56 seats, making it the largest caucus at the time in the House of Representatives. It lost this plurality position in the 2020 general election, receiving only 25.58 percent of the vote and 33 seats. National was again unable to form a government following the election and remained the Official Opposition.
Christopher Luxon has served as the leader of the National Party since 30 November 2021. He led the party to victory in the 2023 general election, winning 38 percent of the party vote and a plurality with 48 seats. Subsequently, since November 2023, Luxon heads a National-led coalition government with the ACT Party and New Zealand First.
History
Formation
The National Party was formed in May 1936, but its roots go considerably further back. The party came about as the result of a merger between the United Party and the Reform Party. The United Party gained its main support from the cities, and drew upon businesses for money and upon middle class electors for votes, while the Reform Party had a rural base and received substantial support from farmers, who then formed a substantial proportion of the population.Like other political parties, the National Party is constituted by two separate entities. An unincorporated association of members operating outside of parliament under a written constitution, called The New Zealand National Party, and a second unincorporated association of elected members of parliament, called the Parliamentary National Party.
Historically, the Liberal and Reform parties had competed against each other; however, between 1931 and 1935, the United–Reform Coalition held power in New Zealand. The coalition went into the 1935 election under the title of the "National Political Federation", a name adopted to indicate that the grouping intended to represent New Zealanders from all backgrounds. However, because of the effects of the Great Depression and a perception that the existing coalition government had handled the situation poorly, the National Political Federation lost heavily in 1935 to the Labour Party, the rise of which had prompted the alliance. The two parties were cut down to 19 seats between them.
Another factor was a third party, the Democrat Party formed by Albert Davy, a former organiser for the coalition who disapproved of the perceived "socialist" measures that the coalition had introduced. The new party split the conservative vote, and aided Labour's victory.
In hopes of countering Labour's rise, United and Reform decided to turn their alliance into a single party. This party, the New Zealand National Party, was formed at a meeting held in Wellington on 13 and 14 May 1936. Erstwhile members of the United and Reform parties made up the bulk of the new party. The United Party's last leader, George Forbes, Prime Minister from 1930 until 1935, opened the conference; he served as Leader of the Opposition from May until November, when former Reform MP Adam Hamilton, who had been a minister in the coalition government was elected the merged party's first leader. He got the top job primarily because of a compromise between Forbes and Reform leader Gordon Coates, neither of whom wished to serve under the other. Hamilton led the party into its first election in 1938. He was unable to counter Labour's popular Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage effectively. Because of this, perceptions that he remained too much under the control of Coates and his lack of real support from his party colleagues, Hamilton failed to prevent Labour's re-election in 1938.
In 1940, former Reform MP Sidney Holland replaced Hamilton. William Polson "acted effectively as Holland's deputy". One former Reform MP Bert Kyle resigned in 1942 in protest at the "autocratic" behaviour of Holland and the new party organisation.
In the 1943 election, National reduced Labour's majority from 12 seats to four. In the 1946 election, National made further gains, but Labour was able to cling to a one-seat majority. However, in the 1949 election, thirteen years after the party's foundation, National won power after taking eight seats off Labour, and Holland became prime minister.
First Government (1949–1957)
Sidney Holland was finance minister as well as prime minister in the new government. In 1949 National had campaigned on "the private ownership of production, distribution and exchange". Once in power the new Holland Government proved decidedly administratively conservative, retaining, for instance, compulsory unionism and the welfare state set up by the previous Labour government.In 1951, the Waterfront Dispute broke out, lasting 151 days. The National government stepped into the conflict, acting in opposition to the maritime unions. Holland also used this opportunity to call the 1951 snap election. Campaigning on an anti-communist platform and exploiting the Labour Opposition's apparent indecisiveness, National returned with an increased majority, gaining 54 parliamentary seats out of 80.
In the 1954 election, National was elected to a third term, though losing some of its seats. Towards the end of his third term, however, Holland became increasingly ill, and stepped down from the leadership shortly before the general election in 1957. Keith Holyoake, the party's long-standing deputy leader, took Holland's place. Holyoake, however, had insufficient time to establish himself in the public mind as prime minister, and lost in the election later that year to Labour, then led by Walter Nash.
Second Government (1960–1972)
Nash's government became very unpopular as Labour acquired a reputation for poor economic management, and much of the public saw its 1958 Budget, known since as the "Black Budget", as miserly. After only one term in office, Labour suffered defeat at the hands of Holyoake and the National Party in the elections of 1960.Holyoake's government lasted twelve years, the party winning re-election three times. However, during this period Social Credit arose, which broke the National/Labour duopoly in parliament, winning former National seats from 1966. Holyoake retired from the premiership and from the party leadership at the beginning of 1972, and his deputy, Jack Marshall, replaced him.
Marshall suffered the same fate as Holyoake. Having succeeded an experienced leader in an election-year, he failed to establish himself in time. Marshall had an added disadvantage; he had to compete against the much more popular and charismatic Labour leader Norman Kirk, and lost the ensuing election. Unpopular policies, including initiating clear felling of parts of the Warawara kauri forest, also needlessly alienated voters.
Third Government (1975–1984)
Within two years, the National Party removed Marshall as its parliamentary leader and replaced him with Robert Muldoon, who had previously served as Minister of Finance. An intense contest between Kirk and Muldoon followed. Kirk became ill and died in office ; his successor, Bill Rowling, proved no match for Muldoon, and in the 1975 election, National under Muldoon returned comfortably to power.The Muldoon administration, which favoured interventionist economic policies, arouses mixed opinions amongst the free-market adherents of the modern National. Bill Birch's "Think Big" initiatives, designed to invest public money in energy self-sufficiency, stand in contrast to the party's views. Muldoon's autocratic leadership style became increasingly unpopular with both the public and the party, and together with disgruntlement over economic policy led to an attempted leadership change in 1980. Led by ministers Derek Quigley, Jim McLay, and Jim Bolger, the challenge against Muldoon aimed to replace him with Brian Talboys, his deputy. However, the plan collapsed as the result of Talboys' unwillingness, and Muldoon kept his position.
Under Muldoon, National won three consecutive general elections in 1975, 1978 and 1981. However, public dissatisfaction grew, and Muldoon's controlling and belligerent style of leadership became less and less appealing. In both the 1978 and 1981 elections, National gained fewer votes than the Labour opposition, but could command a small majority in Parliament because of the then-used First Past the Post electoral system.
Dissent within the National Party continued to grow, however, with rebel National MPs Marilyn Waring and Mike Minogue causing particular concern to the leadership, threatening National's thin majority in parliament. When, in 1984, Marilyn Waring refused to support Muldoon's policies on visits by nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed ships, Muldoon called a snap election. Muldoon made the television announcement of this election while visibly inebriated, and some believe that he later regretted the decision to "go to the country". National lost the election to Labour under David Lange.