Vernon Francis Cracknell (30 May 1912 – 4 June 1989) was a New Zealand politician. He served as the Social Credit Party's third leader (1963–1970).

Early life

Cracknell was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

on 30 May 1912. He was educated at

Auckland Grammar School Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

and Kings College before qualifying as an accountant. In 1934 he left Auckland and moved to Northland and later married in 1949. He established his own accountancy firm in

Kerikeri Kerikeri () is the largest town in Northland, New Zealand. It is a tourist destination north of Auckland and north of the northern region's largest city, Whangarei. It is sometimes called the Cradle of the Nation, as it was the site of th ...

in 1951. Later, he became involved in politics through the Social Credit Party, a group dedicated to the

social credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

theory of

monetary reform Monetary reform is any movement or theory that proposes a system of supplying money and financing the economy that is different from the current system. Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals: * A return t ...

. He made his entry into politics in local government in 1950 when he was elected a member of the Bay of Islands Harbour Board and became the board's chairman in 1953.

Biography

Political career

In the 1960 election, Cracknell contested the seat of Hobson in Northland. He placed second, pushing the Labour Party candidate into third place, and won more votes than any other Social Credit candidate. The area had previously been receptive to social credit theory – the Social Credit Party had placed second in the 1954 election, and

Harold Rushworth Harold Montague Rushworth (18 August 1880 – 25 April 1950) was a New Zealand politician of the Country Party. Early life Rushworth was born in Croydon, England and was educated at Rugby School and Jesus College, Oxford, graduating with a ...

of the credit-influenced Country Party had held the Northland seat (then called

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for its ...

) for three terms, from 1928 to 1938. At the 1962 party conference he was elected president of the party and was then appointed the leader of the party. At the 1963 election he was ahead after the initial election night count by 12 votes. However after special votes were included his small majority was surpassed by the incumbent MP,

Logan Sloane Logan Francis Sloane (8 August 1918 – 8 January 1980) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. Biography Sloane was born in Omana, near Dargaville in 1918. He was the son of J. H. Sloane. He received his education at Dargavi ...

of the National Party.

Member of Parliament

In the 1966 election, Cracknell was finally successful, winning the seat with 48% of the vote. He narrowly defeated Sloane, who won 45% of the vote. Cracknell's victory was a surprise, as no candidate not aligned with either the Labour or National parties had been elected to Parliament since

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

. However, Cracknell found himself unsuited to Parliamentary debate and did not make any substantial impact. He struggled to achieve an independent voice in Parliament, voting with Labour 22 times and with National 14 times in his first year. Cracknell was not particularly skilled at dealing with the media and so received little attention, thus undoing Social Credit's foot in the door in terms of political ascendancy. In the 1969 election, Cracknell's campaign was almost universally regarded as poor, with his television appearance being described as uninteresting, too academic and rambling. Many observers cited growing internal divisions within the Social Credit Party as a cause of this by diverting the party's efforts and attention away from campaigning and policy platforms. The party dropped 5% in the polls and Cracknell likewise did worse in Hobson where Logan Sloane regained the seat by a substantial margin.

After Parliament

In 1970, a bitter dispute at the party's annual conference saw Cracknell lose the Social Credit Party's leadership to his deputy, the more confrontational John O'Brien. The 1970 conference was described as "the most vivid example of political bloodletting in public" since

John A. Lee John Alfred Alexander Lee (31 October 1891 – 13 June 1982) was a New Zealand politician and writer. He is one of the more prominent avowed socialism in New Zealand, socialists in New Zealand's political history. Lee was elected as a me ...

had been expelled at the 1940 Labour party conference. The culmination of which, a vote was held for the office of party president with a pro-Cracknell and Pro-O'Brien candidate. O'Brien's ally P.J. Dempsy defeated Cracknell man A.J. Gray 137 votes to 60. Seeing this as a sign of things to come, Cracknell smilingly asked the minutes clerk to remove his name from the leadership ballot. He resigned the leadership without a delegate vote leaving O'Brien to gain the leadership, without winning it. Thereafter, Cracknell had little involvement in politics, and did not attempt to regain his seat again. However after O'Brien left the party and was replaced by

Bruce Beetham Bruce Craig Beetham (16 February 1936 – 3 May 1997) was an academic and politician from New Zealand, whose career spanned the 1970s and early 1980s. A lecturer at Hamilton's University of Waikato and at the Hamilton Teachers' Training Colle ...

as leader, Cracknell rejoined the party in 1975 and was made 'president emeritus' of the party and gave a speech at that years party conference which helped to calm the party and consolidate the membership around Beetham's leadership. Beetham was elected as Social Credit's second MP three years later.

Later life and death

He returned to his accountancy practice in

before retiring in 1985. In his retirement he raised a herd of 18 Hereford steers. Cracknell died in Kawakawa in 1989 aged 77 years. His wife Shelagh Ralston Julius, who was a Squadron Leader in the WAAF during the second world war, died in 1993. They were survived by four children and six grandchildren.

Notes

References

* *''Who's Who in New Zealand'' (1971, 10th edition) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cracknell, Vernon 1912 births 1989 deaths People from Auckland Social Credit Party (New Zealand) MPs Leaders of political parties in New Zealand People from the Bay of Islands Unsuccessful candidates in the 1969 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1963 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1960 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates