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Jenny Shipley
Jenny Shipley
The Right Honourable
Political party Spouse Children Profession Religion
National Burton Shipley (Married 1972) Two Teacher Presbyterian
Jennifer Mary Shipley
DCNZM
Jennifer Mary Shipley, DCNZM (born 4 February 1952, Gore, New Zealand), was the Prime Minister of New Zealand from December 1997 to December 1999, the first woman to hold this office and the first and to date only woman to serve as leader of the National Party.
Early life
She was born and christened Jennifer Mary Robson in the southern town of Gore, New Zealand. In 1971 she gained qualification as a teacher, and taught in New Zealand primary schools until 1976. She also served in a number of educational and child-care organizations, such as the Plunket Society.
Jenny Shipley (centre), with United States President Bill Clinton, September 15, 1999
36th Prime Minister of New Zealand In office 8 December 1997 – 5 December 1999 Monarch Governor–General Deputy Elizabeth II Sir Michael Hardie Boys Winston Peters (1997 1998) Wyatt Creech (1998 1999) Jim Bolger Helen Clark Ashburton, Rakaia
Member of Parliament
Having joined the National Party in 1975, Shipley successfully stood for the Ashburton electorate in 1987 election. She would represent this electorate until her retirement from politics in 2001, though it was renamed Rakaia in 1996.
Preceded by Succeeded by Constituency
Cabinet Minister
When National under Jim Bolger won the election of 1990, Shipley became Minister of Social Welfare, having been National’s spokesperson on that topic while in Opposition. She also served as Minister of Women’s Affairs. In her role as Minister of Social Welfare, Shipley sparked controversy with her cutbacks to state benefits. Later, when she became Minister of Health in 1993, she caused further controversy by attempting to reform the public health service, introducing an internal market. When National gained re-
28th Leader of the Opposition In office 5 December 1999 – 8 October 2001 Preceded by Succeeded by Born Helen Clark Bill English 4 February 1952 (1952-02-04) Gore, New Zealand
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election in 1996, Shipley dropped the Women’s Affairs portfolio and gained a number of others, including responsibility for stateowned companies.
Jenny Shipley
support from these MPs to keep National in power. On 8 September 1998 Shipley backed Cultural Affairs Minister Marie Hasler’s call for the New Zealand flag to be changed, which was somewhat unexpected. Shipley, along with the New Zealand Tourism Board, backed the quasi-national emblem of the silver fern on a black background as a possible alternative flag, along the lines of the Canadian Maple Leaf Flag. However, Shipley was at pains to disassociate herself from the republicanism of Jim Bolger stating her support for a new flag did not mean she advocated a republic. As the debate continued in 1999 the Princess Royal visited New Zealand, and Shipley stated "I am an unashamed royal supporter, along with many New Zealanders." However, the debate was muted by the controversy surrounding Tourism Board contracts going to the public relations firm Saatchi and Saatchi, whose World CEO Kevin Roberts, also an advocate of the silver fern flag, was a good friend of Shipley. This controversy marred the Shipley Ministry in election year and led to the resignation of Murray McCully as Minister for Tourism. Jenny Shipley was the first New Zealand Prime Minister to attend the gay and lesbian Hero Parade. She was the first National Party leader to seek to make electoral overtures to the gay and lesbian voting public. This was part of Shipley’s expressed desire to expand the traditional National Party voting base. She is a member of the Club of Madrid.[1] Prime Minister Jenny Shipley is also a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.
Prime Minister
Joining toast with United States President Bill Clinton, 15 September 1999 Shipley grew increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with the cautious pace of National’s leader, Jim Bolger, as well as what she saw as the disproportionate influence of coalition partner New Zealand First. She began gathering support to replace him in mid-1997. Later that year, while Bolger attended a conference in Scotland, Shipley convinced a majority of her National Party colleagues to back her bid for the leadership. Bolger, seeing that he no longer had the support of his party, resigned, and Shipley replaced him. As leader of the governing party, she became Prime Minister on 8 December 1997. Despite continued economic growth, the Shipley government became increasingly unstable. In particular, the relationship between National and New Zealand First deteriorated. While Bolger had been able to maintain good relations with New Zealand First (and, in particular, with its leader, Winston Peters), the alliance became strained after Shipley rose to power. The problems culminated with the sacking of Peters from cabinet on 14 August 1998. Peters immediately withdrew support for Shipley’s government. However, several New Zealand First MPs wanted to continue the coalition. Led by deputy leader Tau Henare, they tried to oust Peters as party leader. When they failed, they left their party, either becoming independents or trying to form their own parties. Shipley gained sufficient
Defeat and resignation
In the 1999 election, the Labour Party, led by Helen Clark defeated the National Party. Shipley continued to lead the Party until October 2001, when Bill English took over the leadership and the role of Leader of the Opposition, and Shipley subsequently retired from Parliament.
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Political offices Preceded by Jim Bolger Preceded by Helen Clark Preceded by Jim Bolger Prime Minister of New Zealand 1997 – 1999 Leader of the Opposition 1999 – 2001 Leader of the New Zealand National Party 1997 – 2001
Jenny Shipley
Succeeded by Helen Clark Succeeded by Bill English Succeeded by Bill English
Life after politics
In 2007, Shipley joined financial services firm Sentinel [2].
| Rowling | Muldoon | Lange | Palmer | Moore | Bolger | Shipley | Clark | Key
External links
• Prime Minister’s Office biography • Interview with Karyn Scherer, The New Zealand Herald, February 4, 2008 [1] • Prime Minister Jenny Shipley with Council of Women World Leaders
References
[1] Bio of Shipley from the Club of Madrid [2] National Business Review - 7 March 2007 - Source Persondata NAME Shipley, Jennifer Mary ALTERNATIVE Robson, Jennifer Mary NAMES SHORT Prime Minister of New DESCRIPTION Zealand, politician, teacher DATE OF BIRTH PLACE OF BIRTH DATE OF DEATH PLACE OF DEATH February 4, 1952 Gore, Southland, New Zealand
Political offices
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Shipley" Categories: 1952 births, Living people, Female heads of government, Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, New Zealand National Party MPs, Prime Ministers of New Zealand, New Zealand political party leaders, People from Southland, New Zealand, New Zealand women in politics, Distinguished Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit This page was last modified on 29 April 2009, at 22:48 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
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