John Spencer Boscawen (born c.1957) is a former New Zealand politician. He is a member of the

ACT New Zealand ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT (), is a right-wing, classical-liberal political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's values are "individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natur ...

Party and served as a member of the

New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers of the New Zealand Government, ministers to form Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, and supervises the ...

from 2008 to 2011. Boscawen briefly served as deputy leader of the ACT Party and Minister of Consumer Affairs from August 2010 until May 2011, and as ACT's parliamentary leader from May 2011 until the 2011 general election.

Business career

Boscawen was an accountant in the 1980s, but became

insolvent In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company (debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet inso ...

after borrowing heavily to invest in the sharemarket before the stockmarket

crash of 1987 Black Monday is the name commonly given to the global, sudden, severe, and largely unexpected stock market crash on Monday, October 19, 1987. In Australia and New Zealand, the day is also referred to as ''Black Tuesday'' because of the time z ...

. With help from his parents, he was able to return to investing, developing the K-Mart Plaza in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

. He became an associate member of the

New Zealand Business Roundtable The New Zealand Initiative is a pro-free-market public-policy think tank and business membership organisation in New Zealand. It was formed in 2012 by merger of the New Zealand Business Roundtable (NZBR) and the New Zealand Institute (think tank) ...

.ACT New Zealand MP profiles: John Boscawen.

Political career

ACT New Zealand was formed in 1994 and Boscawen became a member the following year. In 1996, he stood unsuccessfully for the party in the

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

electorate. He has served on the party's board and has been its treasurer. In the 2004 ACT Party leadership election, he backed

Stephen Franks Stephen Franks (born 1950) in Wellington, New Zealand is a commercial lawyer. At one time, he was chairman and Partner of the large firm Chapman Tripp. Franks has been a member of two political parties. He previously served as a List MP for th ...

to succeed

Richard Prebble Richard William Prebble (born 7 February 1948) is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament. Initially a member of the Labour Party, he joined the newly formed ACT New Zealand party under Roger Douglas in 1996, becoming its leader from 19 ...

, over the eventual winner

Rodney Hide Rodney Philip Hide (born 16 December 1956) is a former New Zealand politician of the ACT New Zealand party. Hide was a Member of Parliament for ACT from 1996 until 2011, was ACT's leader between 2004 and 2011, and represented the constituency f ...

. However, Boscawen would later serve as Hide's Epsom campaign manager for the 2005 election and overall campaign manager in 2008. He also donated NZ$100,000 to the party. Before entering parliament he was best known for his campaign against the

Electoral Finance Act The Electoral Finance Act 2007 was a controversial act in New Zealand. The Fifth Labour Government introduced the Electoral Finance Bill partly in response to the 2005 New Zealand election funding controversy, in particular to "third-party" ca ...

, for which he organised protests and legal action and spent more than NZ$140,000.

Member of Parliament

In 2008, Boscawen was ranked fourth on the ACT party's list and also stood, unsuccessfully, in the North Shore electorate. With ACT winning 3.65% of the vote at the 2008 general election, Boscawen entered parliament as ACT's fourth

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...

. ACT supported the Fifth National Government on confidence and supply; its leader and deputy leader,

and

Heather Roy Heather Roy (born 5 March 1964), is a former New Zealand politician who served as an ACT Member of Parliament from 2002 until 2011. From 2006 until 17 August 2010, Roy was ACT's Deputy Leader. Following the signing of the National–ACT Suppl ...

, were appointed as ministers outside of Cabinet. Boscawen sat on the Finance and Expenditure, Commerce, and Parliamentary Service select committees, and was ACT's spokesperson for a range of issues including Housing, Transport, Energy and Economic Development. In 2009 Boscawen stood as ACT's candidate for the Mount Albert electorate, in the Mount Albert by-election. Boscawen placed fourth (968 votes), winning 4.72% of the votes cast. Boscawen provided the media with one of the memorable images of the by-election, when an environmentalist squashed a

lamington A lamington is an Australian cake made from squares of butter cake or sponge cake coated in an outer layer of chocolate sauce and rolled in desiccated coconut. The thin mixture is absorbed into the outside of the sponge cake and left to set, gi ...

on Boscawen's head during a live televised candidates debate. On 17 August 2010, Boscawen challenged Roy for the deputy leader role and was successful with a 3–2 caucus vote. This decision followed Roy's attempt the previous year, which had been supported by ACT MP and co-founder Sir

Roger Douglas Sir Roger Owen Douglas (born 5 December 1937) is a retired New Zealand politician who served as a minister in two Labour governments. He became arguably best known for his prominent role in New Zealand's radical economic restructuring in the 198 ...

, to replace Hide as party leader. As the new deputy leader, Boscawen was appointed to the government roles of Minister of Consumer Affairs and Associate Minister of Commerce, which had been respectively held by Roy and Hide as part of ACT's confidence and supply agreement with the governing National Party. As associate commerce minister, he was responsible for oversight of the

Commerce Commission The Commerce Commission ( mi, Te Komihana Tauhokohoko) is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and regula ...

. While consumer affairs minister, Boscawen initiated consumer law reform that was eventually passed into law in 2013. Hide resigned as ACT leader in May 2011 and was replaced by former Reserve Bank governor and National Party leader

Don Brash Donald Thomas Brash (born 24 September 1940) is a former New Zealand politician who was Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party from October 2003 to November 2006, and the Leader of ACT New Zealand from April to No ...

, who was not at that time a member of parliament. Boscawen was retained as deputy leader but resigned his ministerial portfolios to become the parliamentary leader of the ACT Party. He was succeeded in both portfolios by National's Simon Power. On 9 May 2011 Boscawen was granted the right to retain the title of the

Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

for his lifetime. While Boscawen was initially listed second on the ACT party list for the November 2011 general election, he announced in September that he would be retiring from politics. Boscawen declined to stand on the party list but contested the electorate vote in

Tāmaki Tāmaki is a small suburb of East Auckland, 11 kilometres from the Auckland CBD, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located by the banks of the estuarial Tāmaki River, which is a southern arm of the Hauraki Gulf. The suburb is between ...

, which he, accurately, did not expect to win.

Post-parliamentary career

In January 2013 Boscawen became the president of the ACT Party.Boscawen named as new ACT president
''stuff.co.nz'', 24 January 2013 On 2 February 2014, after unsuccessfully running to be ACT Leader and Epsom candidate, he relinquished the role of president to allow

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, economic ...

philosopher

Jamie Whyte Jamie Whyte is a New Zealand classical-liberal academic and politician who was the Leader of ACT New Zealand in 2014. He unsuccessfully contested the Pakuranga electorate in the 2014 general election. At the election, Whyte held the first po ...

to become ACT Leader and

David Seymour David Seymour may refer to: * David Seymour (English politician) (died 1557/58), 14th-century Member of Parliament (MP) for Wareham and Great Bedwyn *David Seymour (New Zealand politician) (born 1983), leader of the ACT Party *David Seymour (photo ...

to become the party's new Epsom candidate.

Philanthropy

Boscawen is a trustee of the

Auckland Philharmonia The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) is a symphony orchestra based in Auckland, New Zealand. Its principal concert venue is the Auckland Town Hall. The APO is the accompanying ensemble for performances by NZ Opera and the Royal New Zealan ...

Foundation and the

Otahuhu College Otahuhu College is a secondary school in Auckland, New Zealand for students years 9 to 13. Location It is located in the suburb of Otahuhu and is a co-educational school. The main campus entrance is on Mangere Road, the Memorial Field sports ...

Foundation.

References

External links

Boscawen, John: Maiden Statements
at New Zealand Parliament {{DEFAULTSORT:Boscawen, John 21st-century New Zealand politicians ACT New Zealand MPs Living people New Zealand accountants New Zealand businesspeople New Zealand list MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives University of Auckland alumni Unsuccessful candidates in the 1996 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2011 New Zealand general election Year of birth missing (living people)