Peter Davis (New Zealand)

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For other persons of the same name, see Peter Davis.

Professor Peter Davis (BA S'ton, MSc Lond, PhD) is the husband of New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. The couple married in 1981 after her campaign for Parliament. His speciality is in medical sociology, and he is currently Head of Department and Professor of Sociology at the University of Auckland, with part-time appointments in the School of Population Health and the Department of Statistics, also at the University of Auckland. Previously, he was Professor of Public Health at the University of Otago's Christchurch School of Medicine. During that time he commuted from home in Mount Eden in Auckland to Christchurch, while his wife commuted to Premier House in Wellington, New Zealand.

He has previously served on the Auckland Area Health Board, and was a representative in 1989 when his wife, who was Health Minister at the time, suspended it. At times, due to the public policy aspect of his research, there have been allegations of a conflict of interest given the political nature of his wife's work. However, his academic work appears impeccable, and he is internationally recognised in his field, having worked as a consultant for the World Health Organisation.

In September 2006, Investigate Magazine printed photographs of Davis being kissed or embraced by a "mystery man", who was revealed in other newspapers to be former Labour Party candidate Dr Ian Scott, who ran as an openly gay candidate in the 1981 general election. The magazine appeared to imply that Davis was gay. However, Davis, Clark and Scott deny these allegations, saying that Scott's action was unexpected, spur-of-the-moment joviality during election night celebrations. Clark said the speculation about her husband's sexuality was "completely baseless".[1]