Senior Whip of the National Party

Senior Whip of the National Party
Incumbent Stuart Smith since 4 March 2025
Reports to	Leader of the National Party
Precursor	Scott Simpson
Inaugural holder	Bert Kyle
Formation	14 May 1936
Deputy	Suze Redmayne

The New Zealand National Party's Senior Whip administers the "whipping in" system that tries to ensure that party MPs attend and vote according to the party leadership's wishes. ^[1] The position is elected by the National caucus members. The Senior Whip also acts as an intermediary between the backbenchers and the party leadership. Whenever National is in government the senior whip serves as the Chief Government Whip and when out of government serves as Chief Opposition Whip.

All National whips have been members of the House of Representatives, with none coming from the Legislative Council before its abolition in 1950.

The current whips are Stuart Smith (MP for Kaikōura—senior whip), appointed 4 March 2025, and Suze Redmayne (MP for Rangitīkei—junior whip) and Dana Kirkpatrick (MP for East Coast—third whip), appointed 5 December 2023.

List

The following is a list of all senior whips of the National Party: ^[2]

No.		Name	Portrait	Electorate	Term of office
	1	Bert Kyle		Riccarton	14 May 1936	12 March 1941
	2	Walter Broadfoot		Waitomo	12 March 1941	13 December 1949
	3	Andy Sutherland		Hauraki	2 March 1950	4 October 1954
	4	Geoff Gerard		Ashburton	24 November 1954	8 February 1957
	5	Ernest Aderman		New Plymouth	8 February 1957	21 January 1958
	(4)	Geoff Gerard		Ashburton	21 January 1958	12 December 1960
	6	Jack Scott		Rodney	16 February 1961	20 December 1963
	7	Jack George		Otago Central	10 June 1964	11 February 1967
	8	Alfred E. Allen		Franklin	11 February 1967	5 February 1970
	9	Harry Lapwood		Rotorua	5 February 1970	11 July 1974
	10	Richard Harrison		Hawke's Bay	11 July 1974	22 January 1976
	11	Bill Birch		Franklin	22 January 1976	1 February 1979
	12	Tony Friedlander		New Plymouth	1 February 1979	2 February 1982
	13	Don McKinnon		Albany	2 February 1982	29 July 1987 [3]
	14	Robin Gray		Clutha	16 September 1987 [4]	6 September 1990 [5]
	15	Jeff Grant		Awarua	28 November 1990 [6]	23 September 1993 [7]
	16	John Carter [8]		Far North	30 November 1993	3 April 1995
	17	Roger Sowry [9]		Kapiti	3 April 1995	12 October 1996
	(16)	John Carter [10]		Northland	19 December 1996	9 August 2004
	18	Simon Power [11]		Rangitikei	9 August 2004	17 September 2005
	19	Lindsay Tisch [12]		Piako	11 October 2005	5 December 2006
	20	Anne Tolley [13]		East Coast	5 December 2006	13 February 2008
	21	Nathan Guy [14]		Ōtaki	13 February 2008	15 June 2009
	22	Chris Tremain [15]		Napier	16 June 2009	13 December 2011
	23	Michael Woodhouse [16]		List MP	20 December 2011	28 January 2013
	24	Louise Upston [17]		Taupō	29 January 2013	7 October 2014
	25	Tim Macindoe [18]		Hamilton West	20 October 2014	2 May 2017
	26	Jami-Lee Ross [19]		Botany	2 May 2017	20 March 2018
	27	Barbara Kuriger		Taranaki-King Country	20 March 2018	10 November 2020
	28	Matt Doocey		Waimakariri	10 November 2020	7 December 2021
	29	Chris Penk		Kaipara ki Mahurangi	7 December 2021	5 December 2023
	30	Scott Simpson		Coromandel	5 December 2023	4 March 2025
	31	Stuart Smith		Kaikōura	4 March 2025	Incumbent

See also

• Senior Whip of the Labour Party
• Senior Whip of the Liberal Party

References

1. Wilson 1985, p. 278.
2. Wilson 1985, p. 280.
3. Hansard. Vol. 482. New Zealand Parliament. 1987. p. 10063.
4. Hansard. Vol. 483. New Zealand Parliament. 1987. p. 3.
5. Hansard. Vol. 510. New Zealand Parliament. 1990. p. 3.
6. Hansard. Vol. 511. New Zealand Parliament. 1990. p. 3.
7. Hansard. Vol. 538. New Zealand Parliament. 1993. p. 3.
8. "Hon John Carter". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
9. Larkin, Naomi (10 October 2001). "Numbers man Sowry just happy to be No 2". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
10. "Hon John Carter". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
11. "Hon Simon Power". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
12. "Lindsay Tisch". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
13. "Hon Anne Tolley". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
14. "Hon Nathan Guy". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
15. "Hon Chris Tremain". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
16. "Hon Michael Woodhouse". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
17. "Hon Louise Upston". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
18. "Hon Tim Macindoe". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
19. "Jami-Lee Ross". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2020.

Bibliography

• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC   154283103.