New Zealand Conservative Party

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This article is about the minor party founded by Ross Meurant in 1994. The label was also applied unofficially to the MPs who opposed the original Liberal Party, although when those MPs eventually established a formal organisation, they called themselves Reform Party.

The New Zealand Conservative Party (originally known as Right of Centre) was a short-lived political party in New Zealand. It was founded by a dissident National Party MP, Ross Meurant.

Ross Meurant, one of the more conservative members of Parliament, was known as leader of the New Zealand Police's high-profile "Red Squad" during the controversial 1981 Springbok Tour. Meurant often clashed with the leadership of the National Party over social policy, and was regarded as one of the leading dissidents within the National caucus at the time. Eventually, in September 1994, Meurant decided to break away from National and establish his own party - the name adopted was "Right of Centre" (or "ROC").

The launch of the new party was carefully planned, and the Prime Minister, Jim Bolger, was well aware of it. Bolger appears to have supported Meurant's departure, believing that Meurant's continued presence in the National caucus would be more damaging than allowing him to leave peacefully. Before Meurant quit, he came to an arrangement with Bolger whereby Right-of-Centre would not oppose the National Party government in votes of confidence and supply - in exchange, Meurant would keep his governmental post as Parliamentary Undersecretary for Agriculture.

On 8 June 1995, Meurant was joined by Trevor Rogers, another dissident National MP. Rogers, like Meurant, was highly conservative, and was well-known for his campaigns against pornography. He was a particular opponent of the internet, which he saw as facilitating the distribution of pornography, and in 1994, he had proposed a bill to completely outlaw the viewing of pornography on the internet. After a long period of argument with his fellow National MPs, Rogers decided that the National Party was too liberal, and transferred his allegiance to Right of Centre. This gave the party two MPs.

In September 1995, Right of Centre clashed with the National Party when Ross Meurant was sacked as Parliamentary Undersecretary for Agriculture. This came as a result of Meurant's directorship of Prok Bank, a Russian-owned bank registered in the Pacific Islands. Jim Bolger, the Prime Minister, alleged that this directorship was inappropriate for someone holding a governmental post, and requested that Meurant resign the directorship. Meurant refused, and was sacked as Parliamentary Undersecretary. Despite the tension this generated, Right of Centre continued to support the National government, as it regarded the alternatives as even worse.

Meanwhile, Right of Centre was not achieving the success in the polls that Meurant and Rogers had hoped. Meurant has intended his party to capture a large portion of the conservative vote in New Zealand, but after more than a year, the party was still barely registering. It was decided to rebrand the party as the New Zealand Conservative Party. The group retained its socially conservative policies, but also pursued another group of voters, attempting to win support from the rural sector. This new campaign was based on the claim that National, once strongly associated with agricultural sector, had abandoned farmers for "big business" and the cities. This new attempt to build a voter base did not meet with any noticeable success.

In 1996, internal disputes in the Right of Centre occurred. In February, Meurant fell out with the rest of the party, including Trevor Rogers. Meurant subsequently left the party and became an independent, leaving Rogers as party leader and sole MP. Both Meurant and the Conservative Party continued to support the National Party on many matters.

In the 1996 elections, the Conservative Party was wiped out, winning only 0.07% of the vote. Eventually, the remnants of the party merged into the United New Zealand party.