John A. Lee expelled from Labour Party

A charismatic ex-soldier (he lost an arm on the Somme in 1918), orator and writer, John A. Lee had been active in the New Zealand Labour Party since shortly after the First World War.

Following Labour’s landslide victory in 1935, Lee expected to be appointed to Cabinet. But Prime Minister M.J. Savage no longer liked or trusted Lee, with whom he had clashed over both policy and tactics. Lee believed Savage was unnecessarily cautious; Savage thought Lee was too wild and unconventional.

Instead of becoming a minister, Lee was made a parliamentary under-secretary to the minister of finance with responsibility for Labour’s state housing scheme. By March 1939 about 3440 houses had been completed. The success of the programme owed much to Lee’s enthusiasm and organisational ability.

Lee remained dissatisfied with the government’s caution on economic issues. He also opposed what he saw as a lack of democracy within caucus. When he and his supporters won a caucus vote to elect the Cabinet directly, Savage refused to accept this outcome.

In 1938 Lee won the then largest electorate majority in New Zealand history – but Savage appointed Tim Armstrong as minister in charge of housing. Lee responded by writing to all members of Labour’s caucus spelling out his criticisms of Finance Minister Walter Nash and detailing disputes within caucus. Lee was censured at the party’s 1939 conference, with little effect. He went too far – even for some of his supporters – when he wrote an essay that questioned Savage’s mental capacity to govern. The prime minister was dying of cancer and the party quickly turned this into an issue of loyalty. Preparations were begun to have Lee expelled at the 1940 conference.

Before the conference in March, Savage penned an addition to his annual report. He accused Lee of having made his life ‘a living hell’ for the past two years. Although his supporters maintained that the real issue was party democracy, Lee was expelled by 546 votes to 344. Savage died two days later.

Lee formed a Democratic Labour Party which won no seats but cost Labour several marginal ones in the next election, which was delayed until 1943 because of the Second World War. Lee never returned to Parliament, but he did have the satisfaction of outliving his numerous enemies.