Jump to content

Chris Leitch (politician)

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chris Leitch
11th Leader of the Social Credit Party
In office
17 June 2018 – 20 January 2023
DeputyAmanda Vickers
Preceded byStephnie de Ruyter
13th Deputy Leader of the Democratic Party
In office
22 September 2013 – 17 June 2018
Preceded byJohn Pemberton
Succeeded byAmanda Vickers
Personal details
Born1953 or 1954[1]
Died20 January 2023 (aged 70)
Political partySocial Credit
Other political
affiliations		Alliance (1991–1997)
SpouseAnne Wood
ProfessionDance teacher

Christopher John Leitch (1953 or 1954 – 20 January 2023) was a New Zealand politician. He was the leader of the Social Credit Party from 2018 until his death in 2023.

Biography

[edit]

Early life and career

[edit]

Leitch was interested in soccer and cricket as a child and at age 11 also became interested in dancing (also an interest of his parents) and danced first socially and then competitively. He won the Auckland region youth age division competitions and later was the winner of multiple national competitions between the age of 15 and 17. By the time he was 18 he began teaching dancing as well while still learning himself, being tutored by Maurice Taylor, one of New Zealand's leading dance examiners and fellow of the New Zealand Federal Association of Dance Teachers. Aged 20 Leitch moved to Whangārei where, with the help of his parents, he established his own dance studio named "The John Leitch Dance Studio" covering nine other Northland towns. He was a life member of the New Zealand Federal Association of Teachers of Dancing, which registered with the New Zealand Council of Dance and affiliated to both the equivalent Australian association and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing in London.[2]

Political career

[edit]

Leitch joined the Social Credit Party in the early 1970s, "to try to make a difference" following his father's example. His first campaigning was for former Whangarei mayor Joyce Ryan, later becoming chairman of Social Credit's Whangarei Branch.[2] He stood in the Whangarei electorate in 1984 for Social Credit and again in 1987 for the Democrat Party (a renamed Social Credit).[3] After the 1984 election he was Social Credit's spokesman on industrial relations.[4] By 1988 he was party spokesman for housing and co-led a nationwide campaign with party leader Neil Morrison to convince banks to cut mortgage interest rates.[5] In 1988 he became President of the Democrat Party. As president, Leitch changed the party structure in 1989 from nineteen regions to seven divisions with the goal of spreading resources more fairly and giving members at the electorate level a greater say in policy development. The party would then hold seven divisional conferences a year instead of the previous three, in a bid to generate publicity for its policies.[6] At the end of 1991 the Democrats joined an alliance of four parties (alongside the NewLabour Party, Mana Motuhake and the Greens) which became known as the Alliance.[7]

He was selected to be the Alliance candidate at the 1992 Tamaki by-election caused by the resignation of Sir Robert Muldoon.[8] The National government was unpopular at the time after reneging on several election pledges. Leitch campaigned well and was ahead in two of the three opinion polls conducted holding an eight point lead over National Party candidate Clem Simich five days before election day.[9] Leitch did not win the normally safe National seat, but reduced National's majority by 29.5% and pushed the Labour Party candidate into a distant third place, describing his near victory as a "miracle".[10][11] Soon after his Tamaki campaign he stood as a candidate at the 1992 local-body elections for the newly created Auckland Regional Services Trust on the Alliance ticket and was successful.[12] He remained a member of the trust until 1997 when he decided to retire from politics.[2]

Leitch returned to politics ahead of the 2014 election, being elected as deputy leader of the Democrats in September 2013,[13] and selected as candidate for the Whangarei electorate. At the 2017 election he stood again in Whangarei and was second on the list.[14]

In 2015 Leitch was the Northland organiser of a campaign opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and later an organiser for a similar campaign in 2017 opposed to Chinese involvement in the financing and construction of infrastructure in Northland.[15] In late-2017 he stood in a by-election for the Whangarei District Council in the Denby Ward, but was unsuccessful.[16]

In June 2018 Leitch was elected party leader and the party voted to change its name back to Social Credit.[17] Under Leitch's leadership the party increased activities frequently putting out press releases and occasionally full-page ads in newspapers.[18] On 8 February 2022, Social Credit released a press statement advocating for an end to the government's vaccine mandate.[19] Leitch travelled to Wellington to attend the anti-mandate 2022 Wellington protests and spoke to protesters directly on 11 February 2022.[18] Leitch later called for the government to compensate all people who lost their jobs due to vaccine mandate regulations.[20]

Personal life

[edit]

Leitch was married to a former dance partner, Anne Wood, who travelled to the United Kingdom and studied dance techniques under ballroom A-listers. They were a couple off the dance floor at the time before going their separate ways, each marrying other people before meeting again in later life and marrying.[2]

His father John contested Onehunga in 1960 and 1963, while his brother Tim contested North Shore in 2014, and his son Andrew contested New Lynn in 2014 and Mount Roskill in 2016 and 2017.[21][22]

Leitch died of cancer on 20 January 2023, aged 70.[23][24]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Barrington, Mike (20 March 2014). "Chris Leitch drums up electoral support". Northern Advocate. New Zealand Herald.
  2. ^ a b c d "Politicians can dance". Stuff. 31 January 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  3. ^ Norton 1988, pp. 392.
  4. ^ "Socred praises wages accord". The Press. 17 September 1984. p. 12.
  5. ^ "Interest rate campaign". The Press. 28 April 1988. p. 5.
  6. ^ "Democrats lift profile". The Press. 1 March 1989. p. 47.
  7. ^ Orsman, Bernard (2 December 1991). "Alliance born with eye on Tamaki win". The New Zealand Herald. p. 1.
  8. ^ Rapson, Bevan (18 December 1991). "Democrat leader Alliance choice". The New Zealand Herald. p. 3.
  9. ^ Rapson, Bevan (12 February 1992). "Govt nervous claims NewLabour". The New Zealand Herald. p. 3.
  10. ^ Rapson, Bevan (17 February 1992). "Miracle just fails Leitch". The New Zealand Herald. p. 1.
  11. ^ "'Massive' swing to Alliance". The New Zealand Herald. 17 February 1992. p. 3.
  12. ^ "Where the votes went in the local polls". The New Zealand Herald. 12 October 1992. p. 8, section 2.
  13. ^ "DSC conference elects leaders". Scoop. 23 September 2013.
  14. ^ "Social Credit leader Chris Leitch to stand in Whangārei". The New Zealand Herald. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  15. ^ Lambly, Annette (19 June 2018). "Social Credit party's new leader from Northland". Stuff. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  16. ^ Dinsdale, Mike (8 December 2017). "Gavin Benney is new Denby Ward councillor for Whangarei". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  17. ^ "Party Changes Name and Elects New Leader". Scoop. 17 June 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  18. ^ a b Manhire, Toby (21 March 2022). "The people vying to build a political force out of the parliament occupation fury". The Spinoff. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  19. ^ Leitch, Chris (8 February 2022). "Time for mandates to be scrapped". Social Credit. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  20. ^ Piper, Denise (23 March 2022). "Why Matt King thinks his anti-mandate, pro-rights party is still needed". Stuff. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  21. ^ "Andrew Leitch for Mt Roskill". Scoop. 10 November 2016.
  22. ^ "Social Credit Leader Passes Away". Scoop. 20 January 2023.
  23. ^ "Social Credit Party leader Chris Leitch dies after cancer battle". Newshub. 20 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  24. ^ "Social Credit leader Chris Leitch, from Whangārei, dies aged 70". The New Zealand Herald. 20 January 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2023.

References

[edit]
  • Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Social Credit Party
2018–2023 		Vacant
Preceded by
John Pemberton
 Deputy Leader of the Democratic Party
2013–2018 		Succeeded by
Amanda Vickers
Preceded by President of the Democratic Party
1988–1993 		Succeeded by
Margaret Cook
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chris_Leitch_(politician)&oldid=1210730610"