Andrew Kirton is a New Zealand politician who was the General Secretary of the New Zealand Labour Party. He was appointed on 15 January 2016 and took office in April, succeeding Tim Barnett.

Biography

Early life and career

Kirton was born and raised in

Taumarunui Taumarunui is a small town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on an alluvial plain set within rugged terrain on the upper reaches of the Whanganui River, 65 km south of Te Kuiti and 55 km west of T ...

. He grew up in a Catholic household as one of four children on a dairy farm where his political beliefs were spurred after the value of the farm was halved and farming subsidies were abolished as part of the

Rogernomics In February 1985, journalists at the '' New Zealand Listener'' coined the term Rogernomics, a portmanteau of "Roger" and "economics" (by analogy with "Reaganomics"), to describe the neoliberal economic policies followed by Roger Douglas. Dougl ...

reforms. He later moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Management from Lincoln University and later studied at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

. Kirton was head of public affairs for Heathrow Airport before joining international construction company, Mace Group, leading their global corporate affairs division.

Political career

Kirton co-chaired the New Zealand University Students' Association and later worked as a communications advisor to former Labour Prime Minister

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

. In January 2016 he succeeded Tim Barnett as General Secretary of the Labour Party. He was also the Labour Party's Campaign manager for the 2017 general election, serving with

Te Atatū Te Atatū (from the Māori : "the dawn") is the name of two adjacent suburbs in West Auckland, New Zealand: ''Te Atatū Peninsula'' and ''Te Atatū South''. They are located next to each other some 10 kilometres to the west of the Auckland city ...

Phil Twyford Philip Stoner Twyford (born 4 May 1963) is a politician from New Zealand and a member of the Labour Party. He has been a Member of Parliament since 2008. He is the Labour Party MP for Te Atatū. Early years Twyford was born in 1963 in Auckland ...

, who was the Campaign Chair. When asked in 2017 if he held aspirations on entering Parliament himself, Kirton did not rule out running one day, but expressed a desire to work in the private sector again first. In June 2018 Kirton announced he was stepping down as General Secretary after accepting a job with

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacif ...

as their head of government relations. On 1 February 2023 newly appointed

Prime Minister of New Zealand The prime minister of New Zealand ( mi, Te pirimia o Aotearoa) is the head of government of New Zealand. The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, took office on 26 October 2017. The prime minister (inform ...

Chris Hipkins Christopher John Hipkins (born 5 September 1978) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and a member of the Sixth Labour Government's Cabinet as Minister of Education, Minister of Police, Minister for the Public Service and Leader of the ...

appointed Kirton as his Chief of Staff, replacing Raj Nahna. He will take office on 7 February 2023.https://thespinoff.co.nz/live-updates/01-02-2023/chris-hipkins-appoints-new-chief-of-staff

Personal life

Kirton is married and has three children. His wife

Camilla Belich Camilla Vera Feslier Belich is a New Zealand lawyer and politician who became a Member of Parliament, representing the New Zealand Labour Party, in 2020. Biography Early life and career As a law student Belich became involved in student polit ...

is a lawyer, Labour list MP, and granddaughter of former Wellington mayor Sir Jim Belich. Kirton's uncle Neil Kirton was a New Zealand First MP was Associate Minister of Health from 1996 to 1997. His father Weston Kirton is a two-time

mayor of Ruapehu The Mayor of Ruapehu officiates over the Ruapehu District of New Zealand's North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous So ...

District and ran unsuccessfully as the National Party candidate in Taupo in both the 2002 and 2005 elections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirton, Andrew Living people 1981 births New Zealand Labour Party politicians Alumni of the University of Lincoln Alumni of the London School of Economics People educated at Sacred Heart College, Auckland