Jack Marshall
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
--------------------

After the war, Marshall briefly established himself as a [barrister](/wiki/Barrister "Barrister"), but was soon persuaded to stand as the [National Party](/wiki/New_Zealand_National_Party "New Zealand National Party")'s candidate for the new Wellington seat of [Mt Victoria](/wiki/Mount_Victoria_%28New_Zealand_electorate%29 "Mount Victoria (New Zealand electorate)") in the [1946 election](/wiki/1946_New_Zealand_general_election "1946 New Zealand general 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](/wiki/Peter_Fraser "Peter Fraser") of the [Labour Party](/wiki/New_Zealand_Labour_Party "New Zealand Labour Party"), amended the regulations.

Marshall's political philosophy, which was well\-defined at this stage, was a mixture of [liberal](/wiki/Liberalism "Liberalism") and [conservative](/wiki/Conservative "Conservative") values. He was opposed to [laissez\-faire](/wiki/Laissez-faire "Laissez-faire") capitalism, but was equally opposed to the redistribution of wealth advocated by [socialists](/wiki/Socialist "Socialist") – his vision was of a property\-owning society under the benign guidance of a fair and just government. [Barry Gustafson](/wiki/Barry_Gustafson "Barry Gustafson") states, "\[Marshall] was strongly motivated by his Christian faith and by an equally deep intellectual commitment to the principles of liberalism."

### Cabinet Minister

In the [1949 election](/wiki/1949_New_Zealand_general_election "1949 New Zealand general election"), Marshall kept his seat. The National Party gained enough seats to form a government, and [Sidney Holland](/wiki/Sidney_Holland "Sidney Holland") became Prime Minister. Marshall was elevated to [Cabinet](/wiki/New_Zealand_Cabinet "New Zealand Cabinet"), taking the role of [Minister of Statistics](/wiki/Minister_of_Statistics_%28New_Zealand%29 "Minister of Statistics (New Zealand)") and also having ministerial responsibility for the State Advances Corporation. He also became a direct assistant to Holland.

[thumb\|upright\|left\|Marshall as a Cabinet minister in 1951](/wiki/File:Jack_Marshall_1951.jpg "Jack Marshall 1951.jpg")
After the [1951 election](/wiki/1951_New_Zealand_general_election "1951 New Zealand general election"), Marshall became Minister of Health (although he also retained responsibility for State Advances until 1953\). In the [1954 election](/wiki/1954_New_Zealand_general_election "1954 New Zealand general election"), his Mt Victoria seat was abolished, and he successfully stood for another Wellington electorate, [Karori](/wiki/Karori_%28New_Zealand_electorate%29 "Karori (New Zealand electorate)"). After the election, he lost the Health portfolio, instead becoming Minister of Justice and [Attorney\-General](/wiki/Attorney-General_%28New_Zealand%29 "Attorney-General (New Zealand)"). In these roles, he supported the retention of the [capital punishment](/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_New_Zealand "Capital punishment in New Zealand") for murder. In 1957, he proposed a referendum on capital punishment. (New Zealand's last execution was carried out in 1957, during Marshall's time in office.) He also supported the creation of a separate [Court of Appeal](/wiki/Court_of_Appeal "Court of Appeal").

When Holland became ill, Marshall was part of the group that persuaded him to step down. [Keith Holyoake](/wiki/Keith_Holyoake "Keith Holyoake") became Prime Minister. Marshall sought the deputy leadership, managing to defeat [Jack Watts](/wiki/Jack_Watts_%28politician%29 "Jack Watts (politician)") for this post. The result was kept secret from the caucus and several cabinet ministers privately speculated that Watts had actually won, but Holyoake overturned the result, concerned with Watts' health.

### Deputy Prime Minister

Shortly after the leadership change, National lost the [1957 election](/wiki/1957_New_Zealand_general_election "1957 New Zealand general election") to Labour's [Walter Nash](/wiki/Walter_Nash "Walter Nash"). Marshall, therefore, became deputy leader of the [Opposition](/wiki/Official_Opposition_%28New_Zealand%29 "Official Opposition (New Zealand)"). The Nash government did not last long, however – its [drastic measures](/wiki/Black_Budget_%28New_Zealand%29 "Black Budget (New Zealand)") to counter an economic crisis proved unpopular. Marshall was later to admit that the crisis had been prompted by a failure to act by the National government. Labour lost the [1960 election](/wiki/1960_New_Zealand_general_election "1960 New Zealand general election"), and National returned to power.
[thumb\|upright\|left\|Marshall in 1957](/wiki/File:Jack_Marshall%2C_1957.jpg "Jack Marshall, 1957.jpg")
Marshall once more became Deputy Prime Minister, but rather than Attorney\-General and Minister of Justice again he was allocated several new positions, including ministerial responsibility for [Industries and Commerce](/wiki/Minister_of_Industries_and_Commerce "Minister of Industries and Commerce"), [Overseas Trade](/wiki/Minister_of_Trade_%28New_Zealand%29 "Minister of Trade (New Zealand)"), [Immigration](/wiki/Minister_of_Immigration_%28New_Zealand%29 "Minister of Immigration (New Zealand)"), and [Customs](/wiki/Minister_of_Customs_%28New_Zealand%29 "Minister of Customs (New Zealand)"). One of his major achievements was the signing of trade arrangements with Australia and the United Kingdom. Marshall also supported the abolition of compulsory [union](/wiki/Labor_union "Labor union") membership, which had been a National Party election policy – when the government eventually decided not to push forward with the change, Marshall's relations with some of his colleagues were strained.

Marshall promoted the retention of capital punishment for murder. However, Labour under [Arnold Nordmeyer](/wiki/Arnold_Nordmeyer "Arnold Nordmeyer") was opposed, and in 1961 ten National MPs, including [Robert Muldoon](/wiki/Robert_Muldoon "Robert Muldoon"), [crossed the floor](/wiki/Crossed_the_floor "Crossed the floor") and voted with Labour to abolish it.

Increasingly, as time went on, Marshall became overworked, with Holyoake giving him more and more cabinet responsibilities. In the 1960s he led negotiations over trade consequences if Britain joined the European Economic Community (EEC). His polite and genial nature suited him well to diplomatic and trade negotiations. He was most noted for his successful negotiating for continued access to Europe for New Zealand farming exports after Britain had joined the EEC. Marshall was also put under considerable pressure by ongoing labour disputes, which he took a significant role in resolving. Relations between Marshall and Robert Muldoon, the [Minister of Finance](/wiki/Minister_of_Finance_%28New_Zealand%29 "Minister of Finance (New Zealand)"), grew very tense, with Marshall resenting Muldoon's open interference in the labour negotiations. Marshall was also responsible for establishing the [Accident Compensation Corporation](/wiki/Accident_Compensation_Corporation "Accident Compensation Corporation").

### Prime Minister (1972\)

On 7 February 1972, Holyoake stepped down as Prime Minister. Marshall [contested the leadership](/wiki/1972_New_Zealand_National_Party_leadership_election "1972 New Zealand National Party leadership election") against Muldoon, and won. Muldoon became Deputy Prime Minister. Marshall was keen to reorganise the government, believing that it had become stagnated and inflexible. The public, however, were tired of the long\-serving National government, and considered the reshuffles insufficient.

In the [1972 general election](/wiki/1972_New_Zealand_general_election "1972 New Zealand general election"), [Norman Kirk](/wiki/Norman_Kirk "Norman Kirk")'s Labour Party was triumphant. On 8 December, after Marshall had been in office for less than a year, Kirk was sworn in as Prime Minister and Marshall became the Leader of the Opposition.

### Leader of the Opposition

Marshall became [Leader of the Opposition](/wiki/Leader_of_the_Opposition_%28New_Zealand%29 "Leader of the Opposition (New Zealand)") in 1972\. He made the choice to not separate the shadow cabinet from the rest of the caucus to encourage party unity. He made minimal changes to his portfolio allocations from February 1972 to highlight National's experience and stability, contrasting from the comparative inexperience of the new Labour Government.

On 4 July 1974, Marshall was informed that [a leadership challenge](/wiki/1974_New_Zealand_National_Party_leadership_election "1974 New Zealand National Party leadership election") was imminent. Aware that much of his support had drained away, Marshall resigned, and Muldoon became party leader. Marshall's decline was primarily the result of his inability to damage the highly popular Kirk; Marshall's quiet, understated style did not fit well with the aggressive tactics required of an opposition party seeking to return to government. Ironically, Kirk died later that same year and his replacement, [Bill Rowling](/wiki/Bill_Rowling "Bill Rowling"), was perceived as a quiet and non\-confrontational leader, just as Marshall had been.

After relinquishing the leadership Marshall remained on the front bench as Shadow Minister of Overseas Trade. He decided to retire from parliament at the .


What was the significance of Kirk's death, and how did it affect the political landscape?