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Mazda's Maps and Mwikiboxes

Putting these here to avoid clogging up the List thread with OTL stuff. Here are some of the more interesting micro-party political careers that NZ has seen.

Electoral History of Tom Weal
1963: Social Credit candidate for Mount Albert
1963: Warren Freer (Labour) def. Jeffrey Lloyd Reid (National), Tom Weal (Social Credit), Walter Ellis Christie (Liberal)
1966: Social Credit candidate for Mount Albert
1966: Warren Freer (Labour) def. Tom Hibbert (National), Tom Weal (Social Credit)
1968: Social Credit candidate for Hutt
1968: Trevor Young (Labour) def. John Kennedy-Good (National), Tom Weal (Social Credit), N. G. Ursin (Independent)
1969: Social Credit candidate for Mount Albert
1969: Warren Freer (Labour) def. Gavin Downie (National), Tom Weal (Social Credit)
1970-1972: Deputy Leader of the Social Credit Political League
1970 def: Unopposed, opponent walked out
1972 def: Walked out of conference, replaced by Les Hunter

1972-1973: Deputy Leader of the New Democratic Party
1972 def: Unopposed
1972: New Democratic candidate for Raglan
1972: Douglas Carter (National) def. A. J. Smith (Labour), T. A. Wheeler (Social Credit), Tom Weal (New Democratic), R. H. T. Cameron (Liberal Reform)
1973-1978: Leader of the Christian Democratic Union
1975: Christian Democrat candidate for Auckland Central
1975: Richard Prebble (Labour) def. Murray McCully (National), Reg Clough (Values), Allan Donovan (Social Credit), Tom Weal (Christian Democrat), Brigid Mulrennan (Socialist Action), Peter Blakeborough (Liberal), Barry Shaw (Independent Labour (Tenants’ Rights))
1978: Christian Democratic Union candidate for Remuera
1978: Allan Highet (National) def. Lee Goffin (Labour), Eddie Hagen (Social Credit), Jeanette Fitzsimons (Values), Tom Weal (Christian Democratic Union), Mrs P. S. Crowther (Right to Life)

Tom Weal was a highly strung Social Credit figure closely allied to John O'Brien (basically the Real Caouette of NZ Social Credit but much, much less electorally successful). He was elected Deputy Leader at the dramatic 1970 Conference - technically against a supporter of Vernon Cracknell who walked out when Cracknell himself judged that he was unlikely to be re-elected as Leader. O'Brien followed Cracknell as Leader and attracted a lot of attention by shooting his mouth off about various things. However, this quickly made him unpopular among his support base. Weal was the weaker half of the leadership team and spent most of the next couple of years on an expensive and ultimately pointless tour of the UK, trying to mobilise opposition to the EEC and thereby save NZ agriculture.

As the O'Brienites became more embattled, Weal returned to NZ and immediately started working against his boss, leaking to the press that he was about to resign as Leader. However, he remained loyal enough to walk out of the 1972 Conference along with O'Brien when it looked deeply unlikely that the pair would be re-elected. Whereas Cracknell's faction had simply given up, O'Brien and Weal formed a New Democratic Party out of the Douglasite Old Guard of Social Credit, with whom they had made a marriage of convenience previously. Most of the anti-semites removed themselves from Social Credit through this split - however, there weren't many anyway: Weal's hitherto apolitical Dad was even drafted in as a candidate.

The NDP performed woefully at the election and Weal went off to do his own thing. He went back to the UK to campaign in the EEC referendum (there is video evidence of him addressing a factory meeting in Liverpool!) and started his own Christian Democratic party - although it is not clear whether he ever attracted anyone else to his party.
 
Electoral History of Clifford Emeny
1963: Liberal candidate for Hauraki
1963: Arthur Kinsella (National) def. G. L. Broad (Labour), R. S. Mackey (Social Credit), Clifford Emeny (Liberal)
1969-1970: Leader of the Country Party
1969: Country candidate for Egmont, New Plymouth, Stratford, Tauranga and Waimarino
Egmont 1969: Venn Young (National) def. T. McGreevy (Labour), H. J. Johnston (Social Credit), Clifford Emeny (Country)
New Plymouth 1969: Ron Barclay (Labour) def. B. E. Clark (National), Stuart Dickson (Social Credit), Clifford Emeny (Country)
Stratford 1969: David Thomson (National) def. L. H. Stockbridge (Labour), O. R. Marks (Social Credit), Clifford Emeny (Country)
Tauranga 1969: George Walsh (National) def. R. F. Dillon (Labour), J. A. B. Stuart-Menzies (Social Credit), Clifford Emeny (Country)
Waimarino 1969: Roy Jack (National) def. Shaun Alex Cameron (Labour), Graham Ross Dempsey (Social Credit), Clifford Emeny (Country)

1970: Country candidate for Marlborough
1970: Ian Brookes (Labour) def. Anthony Shand (National), G. R. Kerr (Social Credit), Clifford Emeny (Country)
1970-1972: Leader of the Liberal Reform Party
1972: Liberal Reform candidate for Stratford
1972: David Thomson (National) def. D. G. Turney (Labour), H. K. W. Hartwell (Social Credit), Clifford Emeny (Liberal Reform), L. W. Paton-McDonald (Independent National), W. J. Dunleavy (New Democratic)

Clifford Stanley Emeny was a former WWII pilot who had continued to fly planes commercially and thought that the National Party were too Socialist because they weren't doing anything to dismantle the welfare state. His first political foray was to stand for the Liberal Party in 1963 - founded in the previous year by free-trader Nats, the Liberals did very poorly in the election and gave up shortly afterwards. Emeny wasn't one to let a democratic verdict stand in his way, though: he formed the Country Party in 1969 along with a few mates (some, but not all, from the Liberal Party) and stood in five electorates at once. This was a bold strategy, and you will note that he came a poor fourth in each of them. The Country Party aimed to cater to farmers, but as farming was quite heavily subsidised and protected (not that the farmers themselves liked to admit it), this showed a lack of political judgement.

Sensing that the reason he was so unpopular was that his new centrist party had the wrong name (THIS IS A JOKE ABOUT CHANGE UK), Emeny persuaded his mates to become the Liberal Reform Party shortly after his poor showing in a by-election. Emeny had also learned not to spread himself too thinly, so in 1972 he focused on his home electorate of Stratford... and came a poor fourth.

There was a Cliff Emeny who stood for 'Voters Voice' in the Tamaki by-election of 1992, but I believe this was his son of the same name, who has also been a member of the National Party at some point.
 
Electoral History of R. J. Pedley
1957: Independent Liberal candidate for Manawatu
1957: Blair Tennent (National) def. P. Kelliher (Labour), John O’Brien (Social Credit), R. J. Pedley (Liberal)
1963: Liberal candidate for Palmerston North
1963: Bill Brown (National) def. Philip Skoglund (Labour), T. A. Greenwood (Social Credit), R. J. Pedley (Liberal), G. A. Allison (Communist)
1972: Liberal Reform candidate for Manawatu
1972: Allan MacReady (National) def. M. W. Hancock (Labour), Mrs P. Hamid (Social Credit), I. E. Thomson (New Democratic), R. J. Pedley (Liberal Reform)
1984: Social Credit candidate for Manawatu
1984: Michael Cox (National) def. D. C. Alton (Labour), D. A. Sowry (NZ Party), R. J. Pedley (Social Credit), Miss J. M. Leamy (Home Brewer’s United Front)
1987: Democrats candidate for Manawatu
1987: David Robinson (Labour) def. Michael Cox (National), R. J. Pedley (Democrats), Ms H. S. Goodwin (Silent Majority), Ms F. J. Sherrard (McGillicuddy Serious)

I know nothing about this guy, I just find his story really appealing.

His 1957 run was effectively as an Independent Liberal, but as there was no Liberal Party to be independent from, he just used Liberal as his ballot description.
 
Greater London Council minor party saved deposits

1973
Tottenham - Michael Coney (National Independence Party) - 2,924 (20.2%)
Newham North East - Ron Ower (Independent Ratepayer) - 5,110 (29.5%)

1977
Hackney Central - Ronald May (National Front) - 2,388 (15.1%)
Hackney South and Shoreditch - David Bruce (National Front) - 2,886 (19.0%)
Newham North East - Michael Salt (National Front) - 3,026 (12.7%)
Newham South - Mrs V. Roberts (National Front) - 2,500 (15.0%)
Bethnal Green and Bow - W. E. Castleton (National Front) - 2,811 (19.2%)
Stepney and Poplar - F. C. Berry (National Front) - 2,819 (16.4%)

1981
Islington North - P. Sheeran (Social Democratic Alliance) - 2,505 (14.4%)
Islington South and Finsbury - Douglas Eden (Social Democratic Alliance) - 2,707 (18.9%)
Norwood - Stephen Haseler (Social Democratic Alliance) - 3,709 (15.0%)
Vauxhall - Rev D. M. Mason (Social Democratic Alliance) - 2,262 (14.9%)
Walthamstow - P. L. Leighton (Social Democratic Alliance) - 3,068 (14.6%)

London Assembly minor party saved deposits

1999
Enfield and Haringey - Richard Course (Independent pro-Ken Livingstone) - 12,581 (11.8%)
Havering and Redbridge - Ian Wilkes (Havering Residents Association) - 12,831 (11.8%)
Lambeth and Southwark - Theresa Bennett (London Socialist Alliance) - 6,231 (6.2%)
Merton and Wandsworth - Mark Thompson (Independent Labour) - 11,918 (10.4%)
North East - Cecilia Prosper (London Socialist Alliance) - 8,269 (7.0%)

2004
City and East - Oliur Rahman (Respect) - 19,675 (15.0%)
Enfield and Haringey - Sait Akgul (Respect) - 6,855 (5.6%)
Havering and Redbridge - Malvin Brown (Residents' Associations of London) - 6,925 (5.4%)
North East - D. R. E. Ryan (Respect) - 11,184 (8.7%)

2008
Bexley and Bromley - Paul Winnett (National Front) - 11,288 (5.6%)
City and East - Hanif Abdulmuhit (Respect) - 26,760 (14.6%)
Greenwich and Lewisham - Tess Culnane (National Front) - 8,509 (5.8%)

2012
Greenwich and Lewisham - Barbara Raymond (Lewisham People Before Profit) - 6,873 (5.2%)
Havering and Redbridge - Malvin Brown (Residents' Associations of London) - 8,239 (5.8%)
 
As I Was Saying

WI, instead of creating the London Assembly, Blair just reformed the GLC Except With PR.

Leaders of the Greater London Council (Restored)

2000-2008: Ken Livingstone (Labour-Lib Dem-Green coalition)
2008-2012: Boris Johnson (Conservative-Lib Dem-Christian Choice-Abolish the Congestion Charge coalition)
2012-2016: Ken Livingstone (Labour-Green coalition)
2016-present: Ken Livingstone (Labour-UKIP-RESPECT-Britain First-Christian Peoples Alliance coalition)

2000 election
Labour - 30 seats

Conservative - 28
Liberal Democrats - 14
Green - 10

Christian Peoples Alliance - 3
BNP - 2
UKIP - 2
London Socialist - 1
Peter Tatchell - 1
Campaign Against Tube Privatisation - 1

2004 election
Conservative - 27 (-1)
Labour - 24 (-6)
Liberal Democrats - 16 (+2)
Green - 8 (-2)

UKIP - 7 (+5)
BNP - 4 (+2)
RESPECT - 4 (+4)
Christian Peoples Alliance - 2 (-1)

2008 election
Conservative - 34 (+7)
Labour - 27 (+3)
Liberal Democrats - 10 (-6)
Green - 8 (-)
BNP - 5 (+1)
Christian Choice - 2 (-)
Abolish the Congestion Charge - 2 (+2)

RESPECT - 2 (-2)
UKIP - 1 (-6)
English Democrats - 1 (+1)

2012 election
Labour - 40 (+13)

Conservative - 31 (-3)
Green - 8 (-)
Liberal Democrats - 6 (-4)
Fresh Choice for London - 4 (+3)
BNP - 2 (-3)
Christian Peoples Alliance - 1 (-1)

2016 election
Labour - 39 (-1)

Conservative - 28 (-3)
Green - 7 (-1)
UKIP - 6 (+2)
Liberal Democrats - 6 (-)
Women's Equality Party - 3 (+3)
RESPECT - 1 (+1)
Britain First - 1 (+1)
Christian Peoples Alliance - 1 (-)
 
As I Was Saying

WI, instead of creating the London Assembly, Blair just reformed the GLC Except With PR.

Leaders of the Greater London Council (Restored)
2000-2008: Ken Livingstone (Labour-Lib Dem-Green coalition)
2008-2012: Boris Johnson (Conservative-Lib Dem-Christian Choice-Abolish the Congestion Charge coalition)
2012-2016: Ken Livingstone (Labour-Green coalition)
2016-present: Ken Livingstone (Labour-UKIP-RESPECT-Britain First-Christian Peoples Alliance coalition)

2000 election
Labour - 30 seats

Conservative - 28
Liberal Democrats - 14
Green - 10

Christian Peoples Alliance - 3
BNP - 2
UKIP - 2
London Socialist - 1
Peter Tatchell - 1
Campaign Against Tube Privatisation - 1

2004 election
Conservative - 27 (-1)
Labour - 24 (-6)
Liberal Democrats - 16 (+2)
Green - 8 (-2)

UKIP - 7 (+5)
BNP - 4 (+2)
RESPECT - 4 (+4)
Christian Peoples Alliance - 2 (-1)

2008 election
Conservative - 34 (+7)
Labour - 27 (+3)
Liberal Democrats - 10 (-6)
Green - 8 (-)
BNP - 5 (+1)
Christian Choice - 2 (-)
Abolish the Congestion Charge - 2 (+2)

RESPECT - 2 (-2)
UKIP - 1 (-6)
English Democrats - 1 (+1)

2012 election
Labour - 40 (+13)

Conservative - 31 (-3)
Green - 8 (-)
Liberal Democrats - 6 (-4)
Fresh Choice for London - 4 (+3)
BNP - 2 (-3)
Christian Peoples Alliance - 1 (-1)

2016 election
Labour - 39 (-1)

Conservative - 28 (-3)
Green - 7 (-1)
UKIP - 6 (+2)
Liberal Democrats - 6 (-)
Women's Equality Party - 3 (+3)
RESPECT - 1 (+1)
Britain First - 1 (+1)
Christian Peoples Alliance - 1 (-)
Oh God,that’s brilliant David

Does Livingstone still do his”HITLER WAS A ZIONIST” bit and go insane

Granted,he enters a coalition with UKIP,RESPECT,Britain First and Christian Peoples Alliance so I’m gonna go and say that still happens

Is Labour in this timeline okay with Livingstone’s decision?
 
As I Was Saying

WI, instead of creating the London Assembly, Blair just reformed the GLC Except With PR.

Leaders of the Greater London Council (Restored)
2000-2008: Ken Livingstone (Labour-Lib Dem-Green coalition)
2008-2012: Boris Johnson (Conservative-Lib Dem-Christian Choice-Abolish the Congestion Charge coalition)
2012-2016: Ken Livingstone (Labour-Green coalition)
2016-present: Ken Livingstone (Labour-UKIP-RESPECT-Britain First-Christian Peoples Alliance coalition)

2000 election
Labour - 30 seats

Conservative - 28
Liberal Democrats - 14
Green - 10

Christian Peoples Alliance - 3
BNP - 2
UKIP - 2
London Socialist - 1
Peter Tatchell - 1
Campaign Against Tube Privatisation - 1

2004 election
Conservative - 27 (-1)
Labour - 24 (-6)
Liberal Democrats - 16 (+2)
Green - 8 (-2)

UKIP - 7 (+5)
BNP - 4 (+2)
RESPECT - 4 (+4)
Christian Peoples Alliance - 2 (-1)

2008 election
Conservative - 34 (+7)
Labour - 27 (+3)
Liberal Democrats - 10 (-6)
Green - 8 (-)
BNP - 5 (+1)
Christian Choice - 2 (-)
Abolish the Congestion Charge - 2 (+2)

RESPECT - 2 (-2)
UKIP - 1 (-6)
English Democrats - 1 (+1)

2012 election
Labour - 40 (+13)

Conservative - 31 (-3)
Green - 8 (-)
Liberal Democrats - 6 (-4)
Fresh Choice for London - 4 (+3)
BNP - 2 (-3)
Christian Peoples Alliance - 1 (-1)

2016 election
Labour - 39 (-1)

Conservative - 28 (-3)
Green - 7 (-1)
UKIP - 6 (+2)
Liberal Democrats - 6 (-)
Women's Equality Party - 3 (+3)
RESPECT - 1 (+1)
Britain First - 1 (+1)
Christian Peoples Alliance - 1 (-)
If bolded means the parties comprising a coalition...2016 looks, ah, interesting.
 
Just had a terrible idea for a format.

Born in the Wrong Generation


Electoral History of F. D. Hoggard (1885-1954)
1908-1909: Independent Liberal MP for Parnell
1909-1928: Reform MP for Parnell
1922-1923: Minister of Railways
1928-1931: Private citizen
1930: Contestant for Reform candidacy at Parnell by-election
1931: Country candidate for Hauraki by-election
1931-1938: Country MP for Marsden
1938-1940: Independent MP for Marsden
1940-1943: Democratic Labour MP for Marsden

Francis Hoggard, the son of a teetotal Methodist Minister, was raised in a strongly Liberal household, but became a distressingly heterodox adolescent, favouring things like alcohol and freehold tenure of land. In the 1908 general election, he parlayed membership of the local Road Board (to which anyone with an interest in politics had a shout of getting elected) and a caustic personality on the soapbox into unseating the non-dynamic Liberal incumbent, with the aid of conservative votes in the Second Ballot which took effect in that election.

Hoggard's main campaign subjects had been fearmongering that the Liberals would rescind alcohol licenses, alongside scattergun attacks on the Government's perceived corruption - particularly with appointments to the Legislative Council. He was, therefore, easy for Bill Massey to win over to the new Reform Party, which ditched the old Tory gladrags of the Opposition and replaced them with promises to make the civil service independent, to reform the Legislative Council, and to keep the bars open. Ostensible Liberals like Hoggard and Francis Fisher were key in convincing the electorate that Reform was a new phenomenon and a potential heir to the Liberal mantle of Government. In 1911, the unorthodox and radical Hoggard pulled in the majority of Labour's votes in his runoff.

For the next two decades, Hoggard served as Parnell's MP, servicing an urbanising community of wealthy conservatives on the eastern end of Auckland's isthmus. Although succumbing to the sprawl of Auckland, Parnell was still - however - staid enough to be quietly scandalised by Hoggard's private life. He wrote dire fictional works about speculative alternate worlds (the one about a Central Powers victory was deemed 'Too Soon' by reviewers) and his romantic life was impossible to discuss in polite society, although his long-suffering wife did her best to do so. In fact, the only reason he was re-elected in 1919 was because he'd been safely out of the country bearing stretchers on the Western Front, rather than getting up to mischief with navvies in Parnell. His Christian Pacifist principles had compelled him to stay out of the actual fighting - something with which his Liberal opponent's pamphlets made an unseemly quantity of hay.

Hoggard was conceited enough to consider himself natural Cabinet material, and was part of a crew of bitter backbenchers who considered splitting off to form a Progressive Reform Party ahead of the 1919 election, but all proved too frit to follow through. In 1922, however, he was made Minister of Railways - an appointment which is usually regarded as a special favour from PM Massey for someone who could discuss Irish politics with him without coming across like an utter cretin, as there could be no other rational explanation. The Parnell MP did not make much of an impact in his new role, and had to resign the next year for calling Thomas Wilford a "cuckold" in Question Time rather than admit that he didn't know the answer to a simple query about a loss-making branch line. In his later career, the fact that Hoggard had been a Minister substantially increased his credibility - among those who couldn't remember his tenure.

Although hopeful of re-entering Cabinet, Hoggard was rebuffed again when Coates came to power in 1925. Now that he had more leisure time and substantially less youthful lust than before, he had more time to read and think, and came to the conclusion - against the existential threat posed by the rise of Labour - that the only way Capitalism could survive was with co-operative ownership of industry and agriculture, and social control of credit. This set him increasingly out of step with Reform, but he stuck with Coates out of craven concern for his electoral prospects in a suburban seat. He was much more in tune with the new Country Party, but feared that they would prove a damp squib, and knew that they'd never find favour in the suburbs with a name like that.

In 1928, this self-regard came to nought as Hoggard was swept away by the surge of the United Party - formerly the Liberals. Within two years, though, his successor decided that he'd much rather be a Reformer, and defected, resigning his seat and contesting the Reform nomination for the by-election. Hoggard (now only surviving on royalties from his novels, the latest being an egotistical piece of nonsense called Born In The Wrong Generation) also contested the nomination for his old seat, but was decisively rejected by the members, who went for a third candidate rather than suffer an irritating gadfly or a indecisive mayfly. Hoggard left Reform in high dudgeon and joined the Country Party, hopeful that Captain Rushworth's victory up North in 1928 could be repeated. 6% in the Hauraki by-election made this seem unlikely.

However, the 1931 general election saw Hoggard convince Labour to stand aside for him in Marsden - a seat in which he was well-known but not over-familiar, his brother being an upstanding businessman in Whangarei. Hoggard banished United's incumbent, thus exorcising the shame of his repeated failures. During the 1930s, Hoggard stiffened Rushworth's gentlemanly Independent style with his own bombast and lambasting, with the centrepiece of his politics now being the funding of rural enterprise and housebuilding, and the general recovery from Depression, by means of Social Credit. From a member of a right-wing party, Hoggard now became an ally of Labour - and, when the latter party entered Government in 1935, a still closer ally of the left-wing rebels around John A. Lee.

The Country Party was wound up when Rushworth retired in 1938, but Hoggard was re-elected as an Independent with Labour support, sitting alongside Nelson Independent Harry Atmore on the crossbenches. Two years later, though, he joined another micro-party, when Lee was expelled from Labour for his consistent wrecking behaviour. The two quarreled often, with Lee's impish cheekiness clashing with Hoggard's dry, self-deprecating sarcasm in private, even as it entertained crowds in public.

Nevertheless, Hoggard stayed with the DLP and even restrained his pacifism in favour of allowing Lee to set the party's War policy. Hoggard's reluctance to oppose Hitler with military might was perhaps the worst position he ever took, among many contenders, although at least he had the grace to take the position quietly. Another contender would be his increasingly strident anti-Catholicism, arising from a long-standing jealousy of the 'Papist' kids for being allowed to drink wine.

When the next election came, delayed by war, Frank Hoggard attracted a dismal 256 votes.
 
The Parnell MP did not make much of an impact in his new role, and had to resign the next year for calling Thomas Wilford a "cuckold" in Question Time rather than admit that he didn't know the answer to a simple query about a loss-making branch line.

You absolute lunatic.

The only way this list works is because of the forum persona you've cultivated--done by anyone else it would look arrogant, but you? Classic Mazda.
 
Oh my god,I love this

Classic Mazda indeed

Say,is Francis your actual grandpa you isot’ed into his body or just someone based on you and the lore you created around yourself?
 
Beg to report, for the last hour I have been feeling ashamed of even thinking of this. Anyone thinking that my 'brand' or 'lore' make this halfway justifiable are, regrettably, in the final stages of Forum Derangement Syndrome. However, a like is a like and a positive comment is a positive comment.
Oh my god,I love this

Classic Mazda indeed

Say,is Francis your actual grandpa you isot’ed into his body or just someone based on you and the lore you created around yourself?
Francis is my actual first name, and I'd definitely have ended up using it if I'd grown up in the 19th century, when it was a name that people genuinely had. This is just Me But 111 Years Earlier. Coincidentally, Frank was also my Grandad's name. But the dates are very wrong for it to be him!
 
Francis is my actual first name, and I'd definitely have ended up using it if I'd grown up in the 19th century, when it was a name that people genuinely had. This is just Me But 111 Years Earlier. Coincidentally, Frank was also my Grandad's name. But the dates are very wrong for it to be him!

I'd almost certainly be going around as an Alexander myself.
 
Just had a terrible idea for a format.

Born in the Wrong Generation

Electoral History of F. D. Hoggard (1885-1954)
1908-1909: Independent Liberal MP for Parnell
1909-1928: Reform MP for Parnell
1922-1923: Minister of Railways
1928-1931: Private citizen
1930: Contestant for Reform candidacy at Parnell by-election
1931: Country candidate for Hauraki by-election
1931-1938: Country MP for Marsden
1938-1940: Independent MP for Marsden
1940-1943: Democratic Labour MP for Marsden

im so tempted to do one of these for myself
 
Fantastic format idea, brilliantly done.

Feel like I'd likely be the other way round and be named Eugene whilst still going by Owen to family and close friends, or something in that vein.
There was a common practice in the lower South Island until roughly the 1960s [1] for people to go by their middle names, particularly where it avoided confusion with one of one's elders. Thus my grandad is George Basil and my grandmother is Jocelyn Hilary. Eugene is a pretty solid name for 190X politics.

What with the invasion scare of the 1880s-90s, I would be unable to do the same - Mikhail is not a name that wins you election to Seddon's Parliament, and even Ward would look askance at it.

[1] It's the sort of thing that could be common to the whole country and it's just my sample that's skewed, but I haven't encountered it further north than Christchurch.

getting up to mischief with navvies in Parnell.
PM me for a list of names in KiwiRail.

In his later career, the fact that Hoggard had been a Minister substantially increased his credibility - among those who couldn't remember his tenure.
[THIS IS HOW NEW ZEALAND POLITICS ACTUALLY WORKS]
 
NordCab.png

Set in the same TL as this list.

Denied a majority by high inflation, poor export prices, and the populist third-party appeal of Rob Muldoon, the United leader, Arnold Nordmeyer's Labour Party had to negotiate a coalition to remain in power. Muldoon initially held up a United-Reform coalition as a possible alternative, but lost this bargaining chip when Tom Shand, the Reform leader, died nine days after polling day, the Reformers collapsing into chaos as many of their presumptive future leaders had lost their seats in the debacle.

As such, the tough-talking Muldoon sat down with Nordmeyer and tried to get the best deal he could - initially he was gunning for Foreign Affairs for himself and Finance for Harry Lake, but giving the junior party two of the biggest portfolios was self-evidently ridiculous, and in any case became irrelevant when Lake, too, died suddenly. Instead, Norman Kirk, who had challenged Nordy for the leadership in the previous year, got Foreign, while Muldoon went to the Treasury.

It is amazing that the Labour-United Coalition lasted the full four years, but that is the measure of Labour's fear of losing power, and United's glee at entering Government House for the first time in forty years. The smaller party was firmly free-market by instinct, and Muldoon's anti-inflationary policies caused day-long, vituperative arguments around the Cabinet table. Nordmeyer was unused to challenges to his authority, despite Kirk's attempt in 1966, and often quailed against the forceful bully Muldoon. However, eventually, the heat went out of the debate as Muldoon's policy turned towards awarding huge pay rises ahead of inflation in order to shore up his support with the mythical 'ordinary Kiwi bloke'.

The first major scandal afflicting the Coalition was Gordon Dryden's resignation - despite being given responsibility over broadcasting, he was blocked from implementing his key policy proposal, a privately-owned second channel. He stepped down and spent the rest of the term as an irritant to the Government, criticising their economic policies (he wanted worker self-management and R&D investment on Japanese lines) and their blindness to the benefits of alternative medicines. He led the 'Social Democratic Party' into the 1971 elections, but it proved a damp squib.

In 1969, Norm Kirk had a fatal heart attack, brought on by years of Ministerial work and by his preoccupation with challenging Nordmeyer - whom he was preparing to coup again at the time of his death. The Kirk plan, such as it was, involved breaking up the Coalition and fighting the election on a Monetary Reform electoral alliance with the Reformers - which is an interesting counterfactual, but shows how unwell he really was at the time of his death. Not prepared to disturb the balance of Cabinet by reshuffling, Nordmeyer took over the Foreign Affairs portfolio himself - rumour has it, on the grounds that he wanted to spend as much time as possible in a different country to Muldoon.

By this point, Muldoon had worked out that he could best serve his party by leveraging the Vietnam issue - Labour was divided, but had reneged on their ANZUS commitments to send troops, on the principled basis that North Vietnam was no threat to the security of any member state. Muldoon captured the popular mood by pushing for involvement, and when Labour gave him an inch by sending a medical corps, Martyn Finlay resigned from Education to spend more time with hippies on University campuses. By this point, Nordmeyer had no option but to give Muldoon another warm body at the Cabinet table to reflect the balance of power there, hence the transfer of the portfolio to United's patrician Dan Riddiford.

As the term drew to a close in 1971, both parties were rapidly coming to the conclusion that if coalition were the price of power, they'd much rather be in Opposition. They got their wish - but surprisingly, it was the Uniteds who came off worst against the Talboys Tide, which reversed the situation from 1967. After a brief surge from New Zealand's third party, they were well and truly put in their place by the established parties of country and city, Reform and Labour.
 
From Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, fuck you.

Dean Learner, a nightclub owner, pornographer, horror publisher and registered sex offender, stood as a Men's Liberation independent candidate in 1997 for Bethnal Green and Bow, although he had previously been invited to stand by the Referendum Party through his close personal friendship with John Aspinall.

Learner, who had appeared in the horror series Garth Marenghi's Darkplace some years before, stood on a platform of abolishing drink driving charges, arguing that he was sufficiently talented to handle a vehicle at any level of intoxication. The law prevented him from exercising this gift, and still does as of 2020.

The other elements of Learner's campaign were largely based on civil liberties as they apply to prostitution and freedom of expression. His main leaflet, delivered to dozens of houses throughout the constituency, included the following arguments: "I don't believe in censorship. I don't believe in self-appointed judges. I don't believe in judges. I don't really believe in appointments."

After receiving 7 votes in the election, Learner responded publicly with disappointment, pointing out that he knew more than 7 people.

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