McGillicuddy Serious Party

Last updated

McGillicuddy Serious Party
Leader The Laird of Hamilton, Graeme Cairns
PresidentPaull Cooke
DeputyKT Julian
Founded1984 (1984)
Dissolved1999;25 years ago (1999)
HeadquartersNone
Ideology Funism
International affiliation Jacobitism
ColoursRed and Green, Tartan
MPs0

The McGillicuddy Serious Party (McGSP) was a satirical political party in New Zealand in the late 20th century. Between 1984 and 1999, it provided "colour" to ensure that citizens not take the political process too seriously. The party's logo, the head of a medieval court jester, indicated its status as a joke party.

Contents

The party stood candidates in the 1984, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996 and 1999 general elections and the 1986, 1989, 1992, 1995 and 1998 Local Body elections; [1] along with local-body and parliamentary by-elections and university student association elections. [2]

It gained its highest number of votes in the last first-past-the-post (FPP) general election in 1993, when it stood candidates in 62 out of 99 electorates and received 11,714 votes, 0.61% of the vote.

Origins

The party was formed in 1984 [3] in Hamilton as the political arm of Clan McGillicuddy (established in 1978). Members of the Clan had stood as candidates in the 1983 local-body elections in the Waikato, [3] and the party came together in time to contest the 1984 General Election. It had a strong Scottish theme, with the renaissance of a Jacobite monarchy being one of the party's main policy planks. Candidates included street performers, students, artists and members of musical groups such as the Big Muffin Serious Band.

Policies

The party selected its policies on the basis of their absurdity and their impracticality, but also how they tied into an over-arching grand plan. The features of this plan were: Funism (a doctrine of the most fun for the most people), The Great Leap Backwards (returning NZ to a medieval, subsistence, tribal economy) and replacing parliament with a McGillicuddy-style monarchy based on Jacobitism. A non-hereditary monarch would be appointed in a similar manner to that used to determine the Dalai Lama. The high number of NZers with (some) Scottish heritage was the reason given for creating a Jacobite renaissance in the south Pacific. [4]

Policies included:

Decline

The party attracted a surprising level of support, and became one of the larger parties outside parliament. On a number of occasions, particularly following the introduction of the mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system, pundits[ who? ] predicted that the party might actually win parliamentary representation, but this never happened. When the major parties boycotted the Tauranga by-election 1993 in 1993, the party's candidate Greg Pittams, who appeared in nationwide newspapers during this campaign wearing his "emperor's new kilt" outfit, consisting of only a shirt and sporran, finished second to Winston Peters. Votes for the party presumably most often represented protest votes, something that the party encouraged with one of its slogans: "If you want to waste your vote, vote for us."[ citation needed ]

The party began to encounter the problem that often appears in joke parties—a debate about exactly how serious it should become. The founders of the party essentially saw it as "a bit of fun", aimed at providing humour and entertainment. This remained a major part of the party. However, later recruits to the party sometimes saw the party's satire in a more serious context, regarding it as a tool with which people could ridicule and challenge the political establishment. In particular a number of anarchists joined the party, seeing it as an antidote to the traditional order and intending to use the party as a vehicle to give anarchist policies a higher public profile. The dichotomy, in essence, grew between "satire for fun" and "satire to make a political point". Many of the party's original members resented what they saw as a usurpation of the party for more avowedly political and overdefined anarchist purposes, and felt that for the party to become openly "anarchist" would thus make some area of politics "off-limits" to satire. They saw this as an anathema. In addition they saw having a clearly identifiable stance as lessening the party's effectiveness as satirists. However other members had little problem with the expression of more openly anarchist viewpoints.[ citation needed ]

In the 1996 general election the party put up 65 list candidates, and 45 candidates stood as an electorate candidate. [12]

Disbandment and deregistration

The 1999 election campaign proved a disappointment. The party gained only 0.15% of the vote, a considerable drop. Shortly after the election, the party disbanded and the Electoral Commission officially deregistered it as a political party. [13] Party leader Graeme Cairns marked the event and did penance for the loss by placing himself in stocks in Garden Place in Hamilton in December 1999 as disgruntled party members pelted him with rotten fruit. [14]

Electoral results

The following table summarises the party's support in general elections.

ElectionNumber of electorate votesShare of electorate votesNumber of party votesShare of party votesNumber of candidatesSeatsOutcome of election
1984 1780.01%--30 Labour victory
1987 2,9900.16%--190Labour victory
1990 9,9180.54%--590 National victory
1993 11,7140.61%--620National majority
1996 12,1770.59%5,9900.29%650National majority
1999 3,6330.18%3,1910.15%640Labour majority
2008 2590.008%--10National majority

By-elections

By-electionYearCandidate# votes% of votePlacingResult
Tamaki 1992Adrian Holroyd730.42%7th National hold
Tauranga 1993Greg Pittams2712.15%2nd Independent gain
Selwyn 1994Tim Owens260.12%8th National hold
Taranaki-King Country 1998Paul Cooke760.38%11th National hold

McGillicuddy candidates

A number of former members went on to stand as candidates for "real" parties. Former MP and co-leader of the Green party, Metiria Turei, [15] formerly held party membership, and was number 27 on the party list for the 1999 General Election. [16] Other prominent candidates from this first generation of electioneering included founder and Party Leader Graeme Cairns, the "Laird of Hamilton"; Mark Servian; KT Julian, a long-time Party Deputy Leader; Adrian Holroyd; Cecil G. Murgatroyd (who subsequently stood against Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke under the Imperial British Conservative Party banner); [17] Sam Buchanan; Steve Richards; Donna Demente; and Penni Bousfield.

Younger pretenders

Some of the party's original members became upset at the cancellation of their lifetime membership. In July 2005 a "McGillicuddy Serious Party" put out a press-release announcing plans to participate in the 2005 election, one initial policy involving replacing MPs with harmless jargon-generators. [18] A former member put out the press-release without the knowledge of the Clan McGillicuddy's senior members or of the party's former leadership.[ citation needed ]

After intense discussions within the Clan McGillicuddy, no further press releases appeared, no official party registration took place, and neither the party nor any candidates appeared on the 2005 ballot.[ citation needed ]

One candidate stood under the McGillicuddy Serious banner in the 2008 general election: Steve Richards contested the West Coast-Tasman electorate and received 259 votes. [19]

A member from the Party's early days, Richards had stood as a candidate in previous elections.

Current status

Despite the demise of the party, Clan McGillicuddy continued to hold regular public events for some time. A pacifist battle in Oamaru on 31 December 2007 saw McGillicuddy "Martians" take on Alf's Imperial Army in an enactment of The War of the Worlds . [20] YouTube hosts a video of this battle. [21] On 31 December 2013, there was a pacifist battle in Waitati in which the McGillicuddies defended Castle Almond (the castle-like home of one their members) against an "attack" by the local Waitati Militia. [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand was a New Zealand political party espousing Christian values and conservative views on social policy. Although it never won seats in an election, it came close to doing so in 1996 as part of the Christian Coalition and briefly had a member in Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1996 New Zealand general election</span> General election in New Zealand

The 1996 New Zealand general election was held on 12 October 1996 to determine the composition of the 45th New Zealand Parliament. It was notable for being the first election to be held under the new mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system, and produced a parliament considerably more diverse than previous elections. Under the new MMP system, 65 members were elected in single-member districts by first-past-the-post voting, while a further 55 "top-up" members were allocated from closed lists to achieve a proportional distribution based on each party's share of the nationwide party vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1993 Tauranga by-election</span> New Zealand by-election

The Tauranga by-election was a by-election in the New Zealand electorate of Tauranga, a city in New Zealand's North Island. It took place on 17 April 1993, and was precipitated by the resignation from parliament of sitting MP Winston Peters. Peters, who had been increasingly at odds with his National Party colleagues, had resigned both from his party and from Parliament. He contested the seat as an independent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metiria Turei</span> New Zealand politician

Metiria Leanne Agnes Stanton Turei is a New Zealand academic and former politician. She was a Member of Parliament from 2002 to 2017 and the female co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand from 2009 to 2017. Turei resigned from the co-leader position on 9 August 2017 amid a political controversy arising from her admission to lying to the Ministry of Social Development to receive higher payments when she was on the Domestic Purposes Benefit and later, to being enrolled to vote in an electorate where she was not eligible when she was 23.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party</span> New Zealand political party

Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (ALCP), also known as the Cannabis Party, is a political party in New Zealand. It is dedicated to the legalisation of cannabis for medical, recreational and industrial use. It was founded in 1996 and has stood in every general election since, but has never won representation in Parliament. Several of its members have gone on to political success after leaving the party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Copeland</span> New Zealand politician

Gordon Frank Copeland was a New Zealand politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 2002 to 2008. He entered the House of Representatives as a list MP for the United Future New Zealand Party from 2002 but he resigned from the party in 2007. In March 2009, Copeland became Party President of The Kiwi Party, which he had co-founded with another former United Future list MP, Larry Baldock, in May 2007. Copeland stood for the Conservative Party in the 2011 New Zealand general election. Prior to entering Parliament he held a number of corporate positions before working as the financial administrator for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Dyson</span> New Zealand Labour Party politician

Ruth Suzanne Dyson is a former New Zealand politician. She was a Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2020. She represented the Port Hills electorate from the 2008 election election to 2020. She also held a number of senior offices in the Labour Party, including president.

The Communist League is a New Zealand communist party.

Merepeka Raukawa-Tait is a New Zealand politician and former chief executive of the Women's Refuge organisation of New Zealand. She is currently a councilor at large for the Rotorua District Council. She previously stood as a candidate for Parliament, serving briefly as deputy leader of the small Christian Heritage Party.

Graeme William Cairns is a New Zealand musician, artist, and political candidate. Originally from Scotland, he is perhaps best known for his role as "Laird McGillicuddy", chief of the Clan McGillicuddy, and as the only-ever leader of the Clan's satirical McGillicuddy Serious political party. In the 1996 election, he was, at 65, the lowest-ranked candidate on their party list. At the next election in 1999, when he stood in the Port Waikato electorate, he was in first rank on the party list. In 2006, he built a toothbrush fence as an absurdist art project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McGillicuddy Highland Army</span>

The McGillicuddy Highland Army is the fighting wing of New Zealand's Clan McGillicuddy and does battle with enemies of the Clan in accordance with the rules of the pastime of pacifist warfare. Battles have taken place at wide range of locations and events around the country. During the period 1984–1999 it shared many members in common with the Clan's political wing, the better-known McGillicuddy Serious Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1905 New Zealand general election</span> Elections on 6 December 1905

The 1905 New Zealand general election was held on Wednesday, 6 December in the general electorates, and on Wednesday, 20 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 16th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 412,702 voters turned out, with 396,657 voting in the European electorates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wairarapa (New Zealand electorate)</span> Electoral district in New Zealand

Wairarapa is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first created in 1858 and existed until 1881. It was recreated in 1887 and has since existed continuously. The current Wairarapa electorate MP is Mike Butterick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waitaki (New Zealand electorate)</span> Electoral district in Otago and Canterbury, New Zealand

Waitaki is an electorate for the New Zealand House of Representatives that crosses the boundary of North Otago and South Canterbury towns on the East Coast of the South Island. The electorate was first established for the 1871 election that determined the 5th New Zealand Parliament. It has been abolished and re-established several times and in its early years was a two-member electorate for two parliamentary terms. The current electorate has existed since the 2008 election and is held by Miles Anderson of the National Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill and Ben Party</span> Political party in New Zealand

The Bill and Ben Party was a New Zealand joke political party formed in 2008 and voluntarily deregistered in 2010. The party's leaders were Jamie Linehan and Ben Boyce of the TV3 satirical sports show Pulp Sport. In the 2008 general election the party secured 0.56% of the vote, outpolling every other party not in parliament prior to the election. It gained the ninth-highest number of votes out of the 19 parties standing for election.

Northern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Eastern Maori, Western Maori and Southern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, and Northern Maori was replaced with the Te Tai Tokerau electorate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heretaunga (New Zealand electorate)</span> Former electorate in Wellington, New Zealand

Heretaunga is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate, in the city of Upper Hutt, that existed from 1954 until 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecil G. Murgatroyd</span>

Cecil Godfrey Murgatroyd was an Australian politician, musician, and comedian. He was known for being involved in New Zealand National Politics along with Australian Federal and State Politics, and for his role in the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention. From 1981 until his death in 2001, he was generally associated with running and standing as a candidate for two non-serious parties: the Imperial British Conservative Party (IBCP) and the McGillicuddy Serious Party (McGSP); which operated in both countries. Murgatroyd's platforms were typically absurdist and of a 'pataphysical' nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 Wellington Central by-election</span> New Zealand by-election

The 1992 Wellington Central by-election was a by-election held in the Wellington Central electorate during the 43rd New Zealand Parliament, on 12 December 1992. It was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP Fran Wilde after her election as mayor of Wellington and was won by Chris Laidlaw with a majority of 855.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Hammond</span> Politician from New Zealand

Jessica Hammond is a New Zealand public servant, perennial candidate, playwright, and blogger. Hammond stood for The Opportunities Party for Ōhāriu in the 2017 and 2020 general elections.

References

  1. "New Zealand Election Results". www.electionresults.govt.nz.
  2. Salient, magazine of the Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association, 17 August 1987
  3. 1 2 "10 Years of Taking the Piss" in Metro magazine February 1994
  4. McGillicuddy Serious Party Manifestos
  5. "Capital's Central Candidates Clash" Evening Post (Wellington) 28 September 1990
  6. "McGillicuddy Candidate Has Bone To Pick With Meurant". Northern Advocate (Whangarei) 5 October 1993
  7. 1 2 3 Candidate Profiles Daily Post (Rotorua) 27 October 1993
  8. "Electioneering Begins in Jest in Franklin", Franklin County News 3 August 1993
  9. "Serious Party Fun", Johnsonville Independent Herald July 1987
  10. "Election policies". Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2007.
  11. "Serious Pledge For Place in the Sun", Dominion (Wellington) 26 August 1986
  12. New Zealand Official Yearbook 1997 p62
  13. "McGillicuddy Serious Announces Deregistration | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz.
  14. "Tar for the Memory" Waikato Times (Hamilton) 3 December 1999
  15. "Green MP's – Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand Members of Parliament". Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007.
  16. "McGillicuddy Serious Party List Announced | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz.
  17. "Results for Wills". Archived from the original on 31 August 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007.
  18. "The Secret Alliance With Labour is Over". 22 July 2005. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  19. "Official Count Results – West Coast-Tasman". 22 November 2008. Archived from the original on 11 December 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2008.
  20. "Alfs Beat Martians in Battle" Otago Daily Times 2 January 2008, p. 15
  21. Barry, Patrick (2 January 2008). "ALF's Army vs' The Scary Aliens". YouTube . Patrick Barry. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  22. Benson, Nigel (6 January 2014). "Video: Militia mayhem and madness at Waitati". Otago Daily Times . Archived from the original on 18 November 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016.

Videos