Hugh Watt PC (19 March 1912 – 4 February 1980) was a Labour member of Parliament and briefly the Interim Prime Minister of New Zealand between 1 September 1974 – 6 September 1974 following the death of Norman Kirk.
He had been Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1972–1974.
Early life
He was Australian-born, like Labour Party founders such as Harry Holland, Michael Joseph Savage, Bob Semple and Paddy Webb and later MPs such as Mabel Howard and Clarence Skinner.
Political career
He stood unsuccessfully for Labour in Remuera in 1949 and in Parnell in 1951. He then won Onehunga in a 1953 by-election after the death of Arthur Osborne, and held it to 1975. He retired at the 1975 general election in favour of Frank Rogers.
Watt was first appointed as a minister in the Second Labour Government led by Walter Nash; he was Minister of Works (1957–1960) and Minister of Electricity (1958–1960). During the Third Labour Government, in the ministry led by Norman Kirk, he was Minister of Labour (1972–1974) and Minister of Works and Development (1972–1974).
Bill Rowling replaced Kirk as Prime Minister, although the party National Executive and the Federation of Labour preferred Watt.[5] In the Rowling ministry, he remained the portfolio of Works and Development, and was appointed to the Executive Council without portfolio.
Watt was appointed New Zealand's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom effective from 22 March 1975 for three years. Controversially, he stayed on as a member of parliament and Cabinet Minister.[7] In June 1975, Watt was asked if he was about to resign as an MP. He stated that: "If I were to resign now as a Member of Parliament [for Onehunga] it would mean that I would lose my Cabinet status and the unique position that I have as High Commissioner with Executive Council rank that gives me access to British Government Ministers."[8]
Death
He died in 1980 in Wellington.
Notes
-
^ Auckland Star 5 September 1974 p11
-
^ Hay, John (22 February 1975). "New Zealand: Island unties apron strings".
-
^ The Evening Post 13 June 1975
References
-
Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer.
-
Hugh Watt profile via World Statesmen
-
Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946-1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington.
This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.
Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.