Jack Marshall - Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

After the war, Marshall briefly established himself as a barrister, but was soon persuaded to stand as the National Party's candidate for the new Wellington seat of Mt Victoria in the 1946 election. He won the seat by 911 votes. He was, however, nearly disqualified by a technicality – Marshall was employed at the time in a legal case for the government, something which ran afoul of rules barring politicians from giving business to their own firms. However, because Marshall had taken on the case before his election (and so could not have influenced the government's decision to give him employment), it was obvious that there had been no wrongdoing. As such, the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser of the Labour Party, amended the regulations.

Marshall's political philosophy, which was well-defined at this stage, was a mixture of liberal and conservative values. He was opposed to laissez-faire capitalism, but was equally opposed to the redistribution of wealth advocated by socialists – his vision was of a property-owning society under the benign guidance of a fair and just government.

Marshall's politeness and courtesy were well known, and he was sometimes nicknamed "Gentleman Jack". He disliked the aggressive style of some politicians, preferring a calmer, less confrontational approach. These traits were sometimes perceived as weakness by his opponents. Marshall was a strong believer in common sense and pragmatism, and he disliked what he considered populism in other politicians of his day.