Desley Simpson is a New Zealand politician who is an

Auckland Council Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is ...

lor. In October 2022, Simpson was chosen as the

Deputy Mayor of Auckland The Mayor of Auckland is the directly elected head of the Auckland Council, the local government authority for the Auckland Region in New Zealand, which it controls as a unitary authority. The position exists since October 2010 after the amalga ...

Early life

Simpson attended Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland, where she learned to play the organ. She is still an organist. Simpson's grandfather Sir

James Donald James Donald (18 May 1917 – 3 August 1993) was a Scottish actor. Tall and thin, he specialised in playing authority figures, particularly military doctors. Early life Donald was born in Aberdeen, the fourth son of a Scottish Presbyterian m ...

was also a politician in Auckland and she paid tribute to him in her maiden speech and wore the fob chain presented to him when he became deputy chairman of the

Auckland Harbour Board The Auckland Harbour Board was a public body that operated the ports of both Auckland and Onehunga from 1871 to 1988 and was dissolved in 1989. Its successor organisation is Ports of Auckland, which assumed the possessions and responsibilities of ...

in 1935.

Political career

Simpson is a member of the National Party. She chaired the Hobson Community Board in the

Auckland City Council Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...

. With the merger of Auckland City Council into the

, Simpson was elected to the Ōrākei Local Board at the 2010 elections and became the chairperson. She was re-elected in 2013. At the 2016 Auckland elections, Simpson stood for the

Ōrākei ward Ōrākei is a suburb of Auckland city, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on a peninsula five kilometres to the east of the city centre, on the shore of the Waitematā Harbour, which lies to the north, and Hobson Bay and Orakei ...

on the Council, following an announcement by incumbent

Cameron Brewer Cameron Eric Brewer (born 8 March 1973) is a New Zealand former politician who was an elected representative on Auckland Council for nine years – a two-term Auckland Councillor for Ōrākei Ward, and one term as an elected member of the Rodney ...

that he would not stand for re-election. Simpson stood for Communities & Residents, despite the formation of Auckland Future, a group supported by the National Party. Simpson was elected to council in a landslide, receiving over 18,000 votes. The

Mayor of Auckland The Mayor of Auckland is the directly elected head of the Auckland Council, the local government authority for the Auckland Region in New Zealand, which it controls as a unitary authority. The position exists since October 2010 after the amal ...

Phil Goff Philip Bruce Goff (born 22 June 1953) is a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition between 11 No ...

, appointed her as the deputy chair of the finance and performance committee. Simpson was re-elected in the 2022 Auckland elections, and was chosen by incoming mayor Wayne Brown as the deputy mayor of Auckland.

Personal life

Simpson is married to the National Party president, Peter Goodfellow. She was previously married to National MP, Scott Simpson, and they separated in 2004 or 2005. Since September 2008, she has lived with Goodfellow, who defeated her former husband for the party presidency in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Desley 21st-century New Zealand women politicians Auckland Councillors Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand Living people People educated at Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland Year of birth missing (living people)