Leighton Baker

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Leighton Baker
Leighton Baker.png
2nd Leader of New Conservative
In office
24 January 2017 – 19 November 2020
Deputy Elliot Ikilei
Preceded by Colin Craig
Succeeded by Elliot Ikilei
Personal details
Born 1966/1967 (age 56–58)[1][2]
Lower Hutt area, New Zealand
Political party New Conservative
Spouse(s) Sue Baker
Children 4
Occupation Businessman, builder, and politician
Website newconservative.org.nz

Leighton Baker is a New Zealand politician who was leader of the New Conservative Party from 2017 to 2020. He has contested every general election since 2008, initially for The Kiwi Party, as well as a by-election, but has not been elected to office. Baker is also a businessman, owning a Rangiora-based construction firm.

Political career

Baker was involved with the The Kiwi Party, standing for it in the 2008 election.[3] The Kiwi Party only contested the 2008 general election, and like many of its members he moved to the Conservative Party for the 2011 election which had been founded that year. Baker stood in the next election, in 2011, for the Conservative Party,[4] and in subsequent elections.

Baker was on the Board of the Conservative Party prior to March 2015, but resigned in that month, with then-leader and founder Colin Craig saying that Baker didn't want the commitment of board meetings.[5] Craig resigned from the party in June 2015, and all but one of the party's Board members resigned that same month, with the last remaining Board member resigning in July 2015. By mid-November 2015, Baker had been elected by the party to be the party Board chair,[6] though some media reports referred to him as the party spokesman.[7][8] The party Board ran the party in place of a single leader from after Craig's resignation until 24 January 2017, when it announced Baker was the new party leader.[9][10] The party was also renamed as the New Conservative Party at this time.

2017 general election

When the University of Auckland Debating Society organised a cross-party debate in March 2017, they withheld an invitation to the Conservatives when it decided to limit participation to parties which were, or had, been in Parliament. Baker stated that, despite thinking the move was unfair, he would not follow Colin Craig's footsteps by taking the matter to court.[11]

During the 2017 New Zealand general election held on 23 September, Baker contested the Epsom electorate.[12] During the 2017 election, the Conservatives' share of the party vote fell to 0.2% (6,253), below the five percent margin needed to enter Parliament.[13] Baker came sixth in the Epsom race with 0.6% of the vote, trailing behind the incumbent David Seymour, the leader of the ACT Party.[14]

Following the 2017 election, Baker remained leader with the Conservatives later rebranding themselves as the New Conservative Party during their annual general meeting in November 2017.[15]

2020 general election

In early October 2020, Baker unsuccessfully challenged public broadcaster TVNZ's decision to exclude the New Conservatives from the TVNZ Minor Parties' election debate.[16][17]

During the 2020 New Zealand general election held on 17 October, Baker contested Waimakariri, coming third place with 2,057 votes.[18] Following the election, the New Conservative party board decided to replace him as leader with his deputy, Elliot Ikilei. Baker told The Spinoff that he was "obviously disappointed," and that he would spend some time considering whether to remain involved with the party.[19]

Electoral history

Baker has contested electorates six times, all unsuccessfully. He has also never entered Parliament as a list MP; as of 2020, the New Conservative's best result was to receive 3.97% of the party vote,[20] short of the 5% threshold.

Year Electorate Party % of vote Position Notes
2008 Waimakariri Kiwi Party 1.4% 6th [3]
2011 Christchurch East Conservative 1.9% 4th [21]
2013 Christchurch East Conservative 3.6% 4th A by-election.[22]
2014 Christchurch East Conservative 4.0% 4th [23]
2017 Epsom New Conservative 0.6% 6th (last) [14]
2020 Waimakariri New Conservative 4.4% 3rd This was Baker's best result to date.[18]

Political views

Baker, a committed Christian, is known for his support of family values of family and skepticism about the "social experiment" policies of a series of left-of-center governing coalitions, views that attract support from fewer than 5% of New Zealand voters.[24] According to Bob McCoskrie of Family First New Zealand, Baker and his Party are "opposed to redefining marriage. They're opposed to decriminalisation of abortion, marijuana and euthanasia. They're opposed to the anti-smacking law, gender theory and prostitution. What I can surmise from that is the Conservative Party agrees with everything Family First says."[24]

Personal life and professional career

Baker was born in Lower Hutt in 1966 or 1967.[9] He attended a private school in Auckland but moved to North Canterbury in the early 1990s.[25] He has worked on a Stud sheep farm in Dargaville, and as a builder, and now runs a residential and commercial building companies.[10] Baker and his wife, Sue, and have four grown children and four grandchildren with a fifth on the way in August 2017.[24]

Baker is the owner of Concise Construction, a Rangiora-based firm that has been involved in reconstruction following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.[24][25]

References

  1. ↑ https://policy.nz/candidates/G57#Leighton-Baker
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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