Jim Anderton - Alliance

Alliance

Anderton and NewLabour were at the centre of the Alliance Party established in 1991. He became leader of the new party and in the 1993 election, was joined in parliament by Alliance colleague Sandra Lee-Vercoe. He briefly stepped down as leader of the Alliance for family reasons in November 1994, but was persuaded to return in May 1995.

In the 1996 election, the first to be held under the Mixed Member Proportional system, the Alliance won 13 seats in Parliament. Anderton retained his constituency seat (the electorate was now renamed Wigram) and he was joined in Parliament by 12 List MPs.

Anderton was the most prominent critic of the rash of party-switching (sometimes called "waka jumping" in New Zealand) that characterised the 45th Parliament, although remained silent about his own past party-switching. When Alamein Kopu, a list MP from his party, declared herself an independent and supported the National-led coalition, Anderton blasted her, saying her behaviour "breached every standard of ethics that are known." He later started a "Go Now" petition calling on Kopu and every other party-switching MP to resign; like Anderton himself in 1989 they chose not to resign. When Kopu founded her own party, Mana Wahine Te Ira Tangata in support of the government, Anderton suggested that the new party's creation smacked of corruption – as a party leader rather than a mere independent, Kopu received an additional $80,000 in funding.