John Kirk (New Zealand politician)

Norman John Kirk, generally called John Kirk, (born 27 June 1947), is a former New Zealand Member of Parliament for Sydenham, in the South Island.

John Kirk was born in Katikati on 27 June 1947; the son of Norman Kirk who became a popular Labour Party Prime Minister.

When his father died in office in 1974, John Kirk contested the resulting by-election in the same year and succeeded him as MP for Sydenham. He held the electorate for ten years until 1984.

In July 1983 John Kirk announced that he would not seek the Labour Party's nomination for Sydenham in the 1984 election. In his place Labour selected Jim Anderton, the party president, whereupon Kirk (a strong David Lange supporter) declared that he would stand against the official Labour candidate as an independent. His continuing opposition to Anderton's selection resulted in the Labour Party's New Zealand Council suspending him from membership of the Labour Party.

Kirk served out the remainder of his parliamentary career as an Independent MP after declaring that he would never again vote with the Labour Party. He stood in the Wellington urban electorate of Miramar in the 1984 general election where he was unsuccessful.

Kirk left New Zealand in 1984 while still an MP, owing more than $280,000. He was arrested in the US, held in prison, and then extradited to New Zealand, where he was charged under the Insolvency Act 1985. He was sentenced to four months' periodic detention.

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