Departure From The Labour Party
Lee was censured by the Labour Party conference of 1939, but continued to attack Labour's leaders. Later that year, Lee published an article entitled Psycho-pathology in politics, which attacked the mental capability of the seriously-ill Savage. This was seen as excessive even by many of Lee's allies — Savage was on the verge of death, and was seldom even conscious, let alone able to respond to the condemnation. Savage, in one of his more lucid states, described Lee as having made his life "a living hell", and much sympathy was generated.
On 25 March 1940, Lee was finally expelled from the Labour Party. Savage died two days later, and was succeeded as Prime Minister by Peter Fraser, a member of the faction opposed to Lee's left-wingers. Lee quickly announced the establishment of the new Democratic Labour Party, with himself as leader. He was joined by Bill Barnard, the Speaker and former Mid-Canterbury Labour MP Horace Herring . Others, e.g. John Payne, Labour MP Rex Mason and Independent MP Harry Atmore were sympathetic.
However, Lee soon alienated many of his supporters (including Barnard) with what was seen as an "autocratic" leadership style, ironic considering his complaints against Savage. In the 1943 election, the Democratic Labour Party put forward 52 candidates, including Keith Hay, Alfred E. Allen and Colin Scrimgeour (who stood against Peter Fraser in Wellington Central. The DLP won only 4.3% of the vote, Lee lost his seat to Labour candidate Frederick Hackett, and none were elected. Barnard stood as an Independent and also lost.
Read more about this topic: John A. Lee
Famous quotes containing the words departure from the, labour party, departure from, departure, labour and/or party:
“Some departure from the norm
Will occur as time grows more open about it.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“I know that the right kind of leader for the Labour Party is a kind of desiccated calculating machine.”
—Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960)
“There is all the difference in the world between departure from recognised rules by one who has learned to obey them, and neglect of them through want of training or want of skill or want of understanding. Before you can be eccentric you must know where the circle is.”
—Ellen Terry (1847–1928)
“... no other railroad station in the world manages so mysteriously to cloak with compassion the anguish of departure and the dubious ecstasies of return and arrival. Any waiting room in the world is filled with all this, and I have sat in many of them and accepted it, and I know from deliberate acquaintance that the whole human experience is more bearable at the Gare de Lyon in Paris than anywhere else.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)
“Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labour you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.”
—Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894)
“Most adults will do anything to avoid going to a party where they don’t know anyone. But for some reason we may be impatient with the young child who hesitates on the first day of school, or who recoils from the commotion of a birthday party where there are no familiar faces.”
—Cathy Rindner Tempelsman (20th century)