Neil Morrison

Morrison was born in 1938 at Tuakau.{{cite news |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/obituaries/334/One-time-leader-of-Social-Credit-Party |title=One-time leader of Social Credit Party |work=Stuff |date=31 January 2009 |access-date=13 May 2024 }} He was a fourth-generation New Zealander and grew up in a farming family. He attended Pukekohe High School and did an apprenticeship in engineering. He subsequently qualified as an A-grade diesel engineer. In 1959 he married his wife Gabrielle Anne Courtis, a doctor's daughter, and had two children. He owned his own garage and worked as a mechanical supervisor at the Tasman Pulp and Paper mill. He later relocated to Auckland where his family took over ownership of two superettes. Morrison was later self-employed in the transport and manufacturing industries before becoming a director of a property development company in Ohakune.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19860825.2.48 |title=Mr Morrison in party for 20 years |work=The Press |date=25 August 1986 |page=8 }}

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Morrison joined the Social Credit Party in the mid-1960s and was its candidate for the seat of {{NZ electorate link|Eden}} in 1972. He then contested the {{NZ electorate link|Pakuranga}} seat at the next three elections before winning it in {{NZ election link|1984}} by 172 votes, from two-term MP Pat Hunt (his election night majority was 419).{{cite news |title=Official Election Results |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=2 August 1984 |page=2 }} During the 1984 election campaign, Hunt coined the unflattering term "Skoda brigade and Crimplene suit contingent" for Social Credit supporters after losing to Morrison.{{Cite news |first=Bevan |last=Rapson |title=Old rivals agree days of Skoda are over |date=7 November 1994 |work=The New Zealand Herald |page=2 }} Gary Knapp retained {{NZ electorate link|East Coast Bays}}, but the party leader Bruce Beetham lost his Rangitikei seat. Soon after being elected he began advocating to change the name of the Social Credit Party to the New Zealand Democratic Party in an effort to rejuvenate following a huge drop in support between the 1981 and 1984 elections.{{cite news |title=Party Changes Sought By Socred MPs |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=4 August 1984 |page=3 }}

In 1985 Knapp resigned as deputy leader of the party and Morrison stood to replace him. He was elected over Lower Hutt City Councillor Errol Baird and Thames Borough Councillor Alasdair Thompson for the position.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19860421.2.10 |title=Mr Morrison deputy leader of Democrats |work=The Press |date=21 April 1986 |page=1 }} In 1986 Beetham lost the leadership of the party to Morrison. On the night he was elected, the new leader implied in a TV interview that the Social Credit national dividend policy was out of date and would be dropped. This was in response to a question from the interviewer, which he might not have listened to carefully. The next day when Beetham said he was considering resigning because the new leadership was rejecting basic Social Credit philosophy, Morrison publicly retracted his comment and affirmed that the national dividend would remain an important part of Social Credit policy.

In the {{NZ election link|1987}} Morrison was defeated by National Party candidate Maurice Williamson, and Knapp was defeated by another National candidate. The next year Morrison resigned as leader and Knapp was elected at the party's 1988 conference as leader.{{cite news |last1=Murphy |first1=Tim |title=Democrats Stung From Their Long Slumber |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=22 August 1988 |page=5 }} He also ruled out standing in the seat again at the {{NZ election link|1990}}.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19880805.2.52.2 |title=Morrison not to contest seat |work=The Press |date=5 August 1988 |page=5 }}

Morrison later left the Democratic Party in 1989, citing internal disputes within the party between his predecessor and successor as leader as the reason for doing so.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19890307.2.47 |title=Morrison quits over 'bickering' |work=The Press |date=7 March 1989 |page=6 }} Soon after he became a donor to the National Party.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19890418.2.41 |title=Democrat give; to National politician |work=The Press |date=18 April 1989 |page=6 }} By the early 1990s he had joined ACT New Zealand where he found himself together with Hunt who had joined the party too. When appearing together at the inaugural ACT conference in 1994 Morrison acknowledged that many Social Creditors liked crimplene and one of his branch members drove a Skoda.

He was elected as a Manukau City Councillor in 1989. He was the chair of the council's economic development and corporate business committees. Later he focused on disaster planning and was the chair of the Auckland Regional Civil Defence Emergency management group. He was about to run for re-election for a seventh term, when he died from a stroke in 2007.{{cite news |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/iobituaryi-neil-morrison/A2RRS5DCYVNWNKVYLO6KSN5MY4/?c_id=1&objectid=10465147 |title=Obituary: Neil Morrison |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=22 September 2007 |access-date=27 February 2024 }} He was survived by his wife and two children.

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• {{cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |orig-year=First published in 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher= V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc=154283103 }}

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{{s-bef | before = Pat Hunt }}

{{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Pakuranga | years = 1984–1987}}

{{s-aft | after = Maurice Williamson }}

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{{s-bef|before=Bruce Beetham}}

{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Democratic Party|years=1986–1988}}

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Category:1938 births

Category:2007 deaths

Category:Social Credit Party (New Zealand) MPs

Category:Leaders of political parties in New Zealand

Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives

Category:New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1972 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1975 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1978 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1981 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1987 New Zealand general election

Category:ACT New Zealand politicians

Category:Manukau City Councillors