National’s 70th birthday party

Well I had an absolutely great night, which was somewhat of a surprise to me. I’ve not made a big thing of it, but the election last year burnt me out and this year so far had been a “National free” year in that I have withdrawn from all organisational involvement. For the first time in over 15 years have not held any office, attended a single meeting, any AGMs, any conferences. I still have a fair bit to do with various people in National, but had been very much enjoying not sacrificing so many evenings and weekends to the party.

So much so, that in fact I had originally decided not to attend the 70th birthday. And I only decided three days before to attend after all – on the basis a 70th birthday party is a oncer.

Boy am I glad I did go. Almost none of what I call “the small people” who made last year so miserable were there, and of the 150 or so people there, I knew oh probably 90% of them. It made me feel almost institutionalised!

We had all five living Party Leaders (and as I’ve worked for most of them, was quite unique seeing them together) along with Dame Thea Muldoon. We also had every Party President since 1974 (all are still alive) except for Neville Young – eight out of nine.

The Leaders were:

Jim McLay 1984 – 1986
Jim Bolger 1986 – 1997
Jenny Shipley 1997 – 2001
Bill English 2001 – 2003
Don Brash 2004 –

The Presidents:

Sir George Chapman 1974 – 1982
Sue Wood 1982 – 1986
Neville Young 1986 – 1989 (absent)
John Collinge 1989 – 1994
Lindsay Tisch 1994
Geoff Thompson 1994 – 1998
John Slater 1998 – 2001
Michelle Boag 2001 – 2002
Judy Kirk 2002 –

There was many former MPs and Ministers – Ruth Richardson, John Luxton Max Bradford etc, lots of Regional Chairs past and present and various other friends. Plus of course most of the current Caucus. Also present were three foundation members who joined up in 1936 – now in their 80s and 90s.

The meal itself was excellent – much much better than normal for Bellamys. They did well. It was also my first time in the State Banquet Hall since the refurbishment and that also is much improved. The awful 1970s brown curtains are finally gone!!

There were eight speakers with Jim Hopkins as MC. Judy Kirk and Sir George Chapman both spoke at the beginning. We then had four of the five Leaders, and then representing the new generation of MPs, Paula Bennett and Chris Finlayson wrapped up.

Jim McLay spoke very well, and it reminded me of the epitaph I heard years ago about him – “The best Prime Minister, New Zealand never had”. A shame he never got to contest even a single election.

Bolger was next, and as is usual was rather Jim-centric. Hopkins made a very funny joke about Kiwibank and Bolger got defensive and started lecturing about how 84% of NZers support it. Bolger did make a useful point about needing to have a more diverse background to our membership and MPs, but also lectured people on how he never succumbed to being a racist to get votes as if this was some daily battle against alcoholism.

Mrs Shipley was, in the opinion of many, the star speaker. I had forgotten how good she is at occasions like this. She gave a useful reminder that while National has done a good job at exposing and opposing the Government, you also need to promote your own vision and that is what will tip you over the line.

Don’s speech was well received with a standing ovation and covered the normal areas of both what Labour is doing wrong, and what National will do differently.

Contrary to media expectations there was almost no discussion of the untidy handling of events earlier in the week. People were there to genuinely have a good time, catch up with old friends, celebrate past triumphs and plan future ones.

Somehow I ended up being the last to leave with around ten others at close to one am. We then headed to the Backbencher to carry on, but sadly it was closed.

So all in all a wonderful night – a great reminder that at the end of the day political parties are about people, their shared values and shared aspirations.