Parliamentary Career
| Parliament of New Zealand | ||||
| Years | Term | Electorate | Party | |
| 1928–1931 | 23rd | Napier | Labour | |
| 1931–1935 | 24th | Napier | Labour | |
| 1935–1938 | 25th | Napier | Labour | |
| 1938–1940 | 26th | Napier | Labour | |
| 1940–1943 | Changed allegiance to: | style="font-size:smaller; white-space:nowrap; background: Template:Democratic Labour Party (New Zealand)/meta/shading" | Democratic Labour | ||
Becoming increasingly interested in left-wing politics, Barnard joined the young Labour Party in 1923. He was a good friend of John A. Lee, one of the more radical members of the Labour Party. Barnard rose quickly, being elected to the Labour Party's national executive in 1924. In the 1925 elections, he was Labour's candidate in the Kaipara seat — the incumbent was Gordon Coates, the Prime Minister, and Barnard was unsuccessful. In the 1928 elections, he stood in the seat of Napier, and narrowly defeated the incumbent Reform Party MP. In the 1935 elections, he was returned with a comfortable majority, perhaps assisted by his work in response to the Napier earthquake.
When the Labour Party won power in 1935, many believed that he would be appointed Minister of Justice. In the end, however, this position was given to Rex Mason. Instead, Barnard was nominated as Speaker of the House. He was elected to this position in March 1936.
Politically, Barnard was on the left of the Labour Party, and was strongly influenced by the social credit theory of monetary reform. He was also a strong Anglican, and considered himself to be a Christian socialist. Barnard became known as one of the senior members of the left-leaning, creditist faction of the party, although his old friend John A. Lee was the faction's de facto leader. As Lee's relationship with the Labour Party leadership deteriorated, Barnard sided with Lee. Lee was eventually expelled, and after Peter Fraser, an opponent of Lee, was elected leader on 4 April 1940, Barnard himself resigned from the party.
Barnard then assisted Lee in the launch of the new Democratic Labour Party, becoming one of its two MPs. Despite his departure from the governing party, he retained the office of Speaker. Soon, however, Barnard became dissatisfied with Lee's style of leadership, considering it to be egotistical and autocratic. Rather than seek re-election as a Democratic Labour Party candidate, he opted to stand as an independent, but was defeated.
Read more about this topic: Bill Barnard
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