Ormond Wilson - Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

Ormond Wilson met Labour Party MPs (Harry Holland, Michael Joseph Savage and James McCombs) at a luncheon at Government House hosted by the Governor-General Lord Bledisloe. McCombs said to Holland about this encounter: "I think I've found a comrade." He strengthened his connection with the Labour Party and became close friends with Walter Nash and Tim Armstrong. He was nominated for the Rangitikei electorate and contested the 1935 election against the incumbent Alexander Stuart of the Reform Party. Wilson won the conservative electorate with a majority of 907 votes. At the time of election he was 28; the youngest Labour MP in Parliament.

By the next election in 1938, boundary changes had resulted in the loss of the urban part of Wanganui from the electorate, which was now fully rural. Although Labour obtained a landslide victory in the election, Wilson lost against Edward Gordon of the National Party by 300 votes.

Wilson returned from overseas and was nominated in the Palmerston North electorate for the 1946 election by Labour. His opponent was Augustus Edward Mansford, who had been Mayor of Palmerston North since 1931. Mansford had a strained relationship with the National Party, since his 1935 election campaign in the Palmerston North electorate had contributed to the defeat of Jimmy Nash. Mansford failed to get nominated by the National Party for the 1938 and 1943 elections. So in 1946, the National Party decided not to stand a candidate, with Mansford running as an Independent. Wilson obtained a majority of 928 votes in this two-person contest. Wilson lost the subsequent election in 1949 against Blair Tennent of the National Party.