NewLabour Party leader Jim Anderton

In April 1989 a trenchant critic of Roger Douglas’s economic policies, Jim Anderton, resigned from the Labour Party and created the NewLabour Party to represent what he saw as the true spirit of the original Labour Party.

In the 1990 general election Anderton retained his Sydenham seat and NewLabour gained some support from disillusioned Labour voters, winning 5.16% of the overall vote. The following year NewLabour joined with the Greens and several other small parties to form the Alliance, a broad left-wing coalition.