Dover Samuels

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Parl.	Electorate	List Pos.	Party
45th	List	3	Labour
46th	Te Tai Tokerau	5	Labour
47th	Te Tai Tokerau	11	Labour
48th	List	10	Labour

Dover Spencer Peneha Samuels (9 July 1939 - ) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party. He first entered Parliament as a list MP in the 1996 elections, and has been the MP for Te Tai Tokerau since the 1999 elections. When the Labour Party formed a government following its victory in 1999, Samuels became the Minister of Māori Affairs, but resigned this role in 2002 pending an investigation into alleged sex crimes committed before he entered politics. The police later cleared Samuels of all charges, and Samuels alleged that the accusations had political motivations.

Samuels lost his Māori Electorate of Te Tai Tokerau in 2005 to the Māori Party candidate Hone Harawira. However, he was returned to parliament due to his high position on the Labour Party list. He is currently the Associate Minister for Economic Development, Housing, Tourism and Industry and Regional Development.

On 31 October 2007, during the Cabinet reshuffle, Samuels lost his position as a Minister outside Cabinet, replaced by Darren Hughes. He returned to the backbench.

He has announced that he is not contesting the 2008 election