Defeat
Labour's biggest problem in the 1960 election was the 'Black Budget' of 1958. This negated the popularity of the tax rebate; cartoonists depicted Nash handing out money and Finance Minister Arnold Nordmeyer taking it back. In addition, Nash seemed old and out of touch compared to the much younger Holyoake, who had by this time acquired the leadership skills which would see him become one of New Zealand's longest-serving Prime Ministers. Although National's lead over Labour in the popular vote was the same as Labour's lead over National in 1957, it was distributed in such a way that National had a majority of 12, compared to Labour's majority of two in 1957. This was and would continue to be a perennial problem for Labour under First Past the Post - its voters tended to be concentrated in a few electorates, whereas National's were more spread out, enabling National to consistently take a disproportionate number of seats.
Read more about this topic: Second Labour Government Of New Zealand
Famous quotes containing the word defeat:
“One strong wolf cannot defeat a pack of dogs; one strong arm cannot defeat many fists.”
—Chinese proverb.
“And, “Better defeat almost,
If seen clear,
Than life’s victories of doubt
That need endless talk-talk
To make them out.””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Victory has a hundred fathers but defeat is an orphan.”
—Galeazzo Ciano (1903–1944)