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1936 New Zealand National Party leadership election
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The New Zealand National Party leadership election was held in 1936 to select the inaugural leader of the newly founded
New Zealand National Party
. The election was won by
Wallace
MP
Adam Hamilton
.
Background
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The National Party was only recently set up by the defeated remnants of the
Reform
and
United
parties. Over the issue of leadership the two parties leaders
Gordon Coates
and
George Forbes
were known to personally detest one another, and neither would serve under the other's leadership threatening to divide the budding party. This led to alternative figures to be turned to in order to find a leader, however Coates (who was reluctant to the merger to begin with) was determined that the leader should be a Reform MP.
Candidates
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Adam Hamilton
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First elected in 1919, Hamilton had served as the
Minister of Internal Affairs
and
Postmaster-General
in the
United-Reform Coalition
government which governed during the
Great Depression
. In what some called an act of
blackmail
, Coates and a group of Reform MPs went as far as to threaten to leave the new National Party and re-establish the old Reform Party unless Hamilton was chosen as leader.
[2]
Charles Wilkinson
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Wilkinson was the MP for
Egmont
from a
1912 by-election
to 1919 when he retired before returning in 1928. It was well known that Forbes was known to prefer Wilkinson and was of the opinion that as a new party National should have a new leader free from association of the coalition government of which Wilkinson was not a member.
[3]
Result
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The election was conducted through a members' ballot by National's parliamentary caucus.
The following table gives the ballot results:
Aftermath
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Hamilton was essentially chosen as a compromise candidate. Whilst honest, dependable and experienced, lacked the charisma needed for leadership and was too closely linked with the government during the depression by the public. He was never able to properly establish himself as leader, being seen by many as a mere lieutenant of Coates, his former leader.
[2]
Wilkinson remained an MP until he retired in 1943. He never joined the National Party, however as he habitually voted with them, National did not run a candidate against him in 1938.
[3]
Notes
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References
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