The New Zealand Labour Party's Senior Whip administers the "whipping in" system that tries to ensure that party MPs attend and vote according to the party leadership's wishes. The position is elected by the Labour caucus members. The senior whip also acts as an intermediary between the backbenchers and the party leadership. Whenever Labour is in government the senior whip serves as the chief government whip and when out of government serves as chief opposition whip; thus the position is also referred to as "Chief Whip".
All Labour whips have been members of the House of Representatives, with none coming from the Legislative Council before its abolition in 1950.
The current senior whip is Glen Bennett.
List The following is a list of all senior whips of the Labour Party:
No.NamePortraitElectorateTerm of office 1 Andrew Walker 7 July 1916 28 August 1919 2 James McCombs 28 August 1919 10 March 1921 3 Dan Sullivan 10 March 1921 5 December 1935 4 Bill Jordan 5 December 1935 11 June 1936 5 Robert McKeen 11 June 1936 11 May 1939 6 James O'Brien 11 May 1939 2 December 1942 7 Arthur Shapton Richards 2 December 1942 5 August 1947† 8 Robert McFarlane 19 September 1947 27 June 1951 9 Phil Connolly 27 June 1951 10 July 1952 10 Joe Cotterill 10 July 1952 9 January 1958 11 Henry May 9 January 1958 29 November 1972 12 Ron Barclay 29 November 1972 29 January 1976 13 Roger Drayton 29 January 1976 5 May 1978 14 Russell Marshall 5 May 1978 13 February 1980 15 Jonathan Hunt 13 February 1980 19 July 1984 16 Michael Cullen 19 July 1984 18 August 1987 17 Margaret Austin 18 August 1987 8 February 1990 18 Trevor Mallard 8 February 1990 31 October 1990 (15) Jonathan Hunt 31 October 1990 19 December 1996 19 Mark Burton 19 December 1996 10 December 1999 20 Rick Barker 10 December 1999 15 August 2002 21 David Benson-Pope 15 August 2002 26 February 2004 22 Jill Pettis 26 February 2004 1 November 2005 23 Tim Barnett 1 November 2005 8 November 2008 24 Darren Hughes List MP 8 November 2008 25 March 2011 – Steve Chadwick (acting) List MP 25 March 2011 5 April 2011 (20) Rick Barker List MP 5 April 2011 13 December 2011 25 Chris Hipkins 13 December 2011 17 September 2013 26 Sue Moroney List MP 17 September 2013 23 September 2014 (25) Chris Hipkins 23 September 2014 15 December 2016 27 Kris Faafoi 15 December 2016 31 October 2017 28 Ruth Dyson 31 October 2017 27 June 2019 29 Michael Wood 27 June 2019 2 November 2020 30 Kieran McAnulty 2 November 2020 14 June 2022 31 Duncan Webb 14 June 2022 31 January 2023 32 Tangi Utikere 31 January 2023 11 March 202533Glen BennettList MP11 March 2025present
See also Senior Whip of the National Party Senior Whip of the Liberal Party
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