Mike Williams
ONZM
Williams in 2023
32nd President of the Labour Party
In office
19 November 2000 – 2 March 2009
Vice PresidentTerry Scott
Pat Webster
Marian Hobbs
LeaderHelen Clark
Phil Goff
Preceded byBob Harvey
Succeeded byAndrew Little
Personal details
Born1949 (age 74–75)
Political partyLabour
Alma materVictoria University of Wellington
University of Auckland

Kenneth Michael Williams ONZM (born 1949) is a former president of the New Zealand Labour Party. [1]

Early life

Williams lived in Wainuiomata as a child before his family moved to Hastings. There he attended Karamu High School and was a friend of Paul Holmes.[2] He, alongside Holmes and Peter Beaven, organised a high school debating team.[3] At the age of 17, Williams joined the New Zealand Labour Party. He was recruited to the party by MP Jonathan Hunt.[4] He attended Victoria University of Wellington, where he joined marches against apartheid, nuclear weapons and the Vietnam war. He obtained a Master of Arts degree in New Zealand History from the University of Auckland. It was here that he first met future Prime Minister Helen Clark, where they were both members of the Princes Street Branch of the Labour Party.[2]

Commercial activities

Williams set up two successful companies based on his experience of Labour Party organisation. Insight Research (now UMR Insight) was a market research company (which was sold in 1994) and Insight Data, which specialised in direct-mail and marketing and was sold in 1997.[2] Williams has been an information technology consultant[5] and was a director (until December 2008) of Genesis Energy, the NZ Transport Agency, and GNS Science.[6]

Political involvement

When living briefly in the United Kingdom Williams was invited to fill the role of a campaign manager to David Butcher (an old school friend of his) in the Hastings electorate at the 1978 election. Williams returned to New Zealand to manage the campaign and credits his experience in the campaign as getting him "hooked" on politics. He was not interested in becoming a Member of Parliament but was interested in political organisation, particularly the computerisation of it.[7]

Williams then started working for the Labour Party itself as an education officer during the 1981 election campaign, which Labour narrowly lost.[8] Afterwards, he rapidly moved into fundraising where he instigated a number of new practices including, a pledge system (whereby supporters agreed to pay a regular amount using the then-new automatic bank transfer system), sending out requests for donations to the party membership, enclosing pre-paid reply envelopes, visiting businesses to solicit donations, systematic canvassing and direct-mailing. These activities helped the party to achieve a landslide victory at the next election in 1984. After the election, Williams joined the Australian Labor Party in Canberra, after being headhunted for his computerisation skills and experience. but returned to New Zealand within a year. He attained a job at parliament working for Prime Minister David Lange, in charge of Lange's external communications and direct mail.[9]

After having sold his second company, Insight Data, Williams was invited by his friend and Labour MP Pete Hodgson for the role of Labour's nationwide campaign manager for the 1999 election.[7] Williams ran the 1999 election, which was won by the Labour Party.[2] After the election he was elected as party president at that years annual conference. He defeated former Labour MP Richard Northey 347 votes to 138.[4] As president he dealt frequently with personnel issues and dealt with most "behind closed doors". In 2022 Williams revealed such an instance that when a senior official in an electorate was exposed as a paedophile he fired him from his job, despite thinking retrospectively that he didn't have the authority to do so.[7] Williams retired as Labour's president in 2009 after Labour's defeat in the 2008 election.[10] He was the second longest serving president in Labour's history.[7]

Post-politics activities

In 2009 he became the Chief Executive Officer of the anti-P Stellar Trust, a charity which campaigns to raise awareness of the dangers of methamphetamine.[11]

Williams unsuccessfully stood for several local government positions in the 2010 Auckland local elections. These were the Henderson-Massey Local Board, the Waitakere Licensing Trust, and the Waitematā District Health Board.[12][13]

Since 2011 he has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Howard League for Penal Reform, a lobbying organisation for prison reform in New Zealand.[14]

Honours and awards

In the 2023 New Year Honours, Williams was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to governance and the community.[15]

Notes

  1. ↑ Young, Audrey (14 September 2009). "Salute to a 'fairly good bastard'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Watkin, Tim (1 December 2001). "Labour's shadow man". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  3. ↑ Shoebridge, Tim. "Holmes, Paul Scott". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
  4. 1 2 Espiner, Guyon (19 November 2000). "Labour feeling no pains". Sunday Star-Times. p. A2.
  5. ↑ "Labour rolling out the pork barrels, say Nats". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 1 November 2000. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  6. ↑ Trevett, Claire (8 December 2008). "Mike Williams resigns from SOE boards". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Donovan, Emile (16 August 2022). "The Detail - Party presidents: The power behind the politics". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  8. ↑ Franks & McAloon 2016, p. 192.
  9. ↑ Bassett 2008, p. 390.
  10. ↑ Franks & McAloon 2016, p. 246.
  11. ↑ Paul Holmes and Andrew Laxon (29 August 2009). "Williams to steer campaign against P". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  12. ↑ "Local Elections 2010 – Instructions & Candidate Information (AC101)" (Press release). Electoral Commission (New Zealand). September 2010.
  13. ↑ "2010 Election Results" (Press release). Auckland Transition Agency/Auckland Council. October 2010. Archived from the original on 11 October 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  14. ↑ Johns, Geraldine (8 June 2016). "Mike Williams and the Howard League gives prisoners a second chance". Stuff. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  15. ↑ "New Year honours list 2023". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.

References

  • Bassett, Michael (2008). Working with David: Inside the Lange Cabinet. Auckland: Hodder Moa. ISBN 978-1-86971-094-1.
  • Franks, Peter; McAloon, Jim (2016). Labour: The New Zealand Labour Party 1916-2016. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 978-1-77656-074-5.
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