NewLabour Party (New Zealand)

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NewLabour was the name chosen by Jim Anderton, an MP and former President of the New Zealand Labour Party, for his new left-of-centre party in 1989.

NewLabour was established by a number of Labour Party members whom left the party in reaction to "Rogernomics", the economic policies implemented by the Labour Party's Minister of Finance, Roger Douglas, which saw the traditionally left-wing Labour Party swing heavily to the right. Anderton, who had been among the most vocal critics of Douglas, was joined by a number of other members of the Labour Party, such as Matt Robson, Laila Harré and Phil Amos, and a number of left-wing activists, such as Bruce Jesson. Anderton, however, was the party's only MP.

[edit] Electoral success

In the 1990 elections, NewLabour stood candidates in all electorates. The party gained a certain amount of support from disillusioned Labour voters, winning 5.16% of the vote. However, Anderton was NewLabour's only successful candidate, retaining the Sydenham seat in "working-class" south-central Christchurch. He remained the party's sole representative in Parliament, which was now dominated by the National Party with 67 seats out of 97.

[edit] Alliance building

In 1991, NewLabour and several other parties formed the Alliance, a broad left-wing coalition. Initially, NewLabour maintained a separate identity within the Alliance, keeping its own party organization intact. By 2000, however, many felt that maintaining parallel NewLabour and Alliance structures was counter-productive, and at NewLabour's October conference, it was decided to completely assimilate the party into the larger Alliance structure, marking the end of NewLabour as an autonomous group.

[edit] British rebranding

By contrast, the British Labour Party, under Tony Blair, rebranded itself new Labour in 1994 in order to distance itself from the party's far-left policies of the 1980s - a period of Conservative domination and Labour unpopularity.