Bruce Windsor Cliffe (24 September 1946 – 13 July 2022) was a New Zealand businessman and politician.

Early life

Cliffe was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

in 1946. His parents were Mervyn Walter and Hilda Frances Cliffe. He received his education at Campbells Bay School, Murrays Bay Intermediate, and

Takapuna Grammar School Takapuna Grammar School is a state coeducational secondary school located in the suburb of Belmont on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. Established in 1927, the school mainly serves the eponymous suburb of Takapuna and the entire Dev ...

. He graduated from the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts. In 1971, he obtained a certificate in management studies from

Templeton College, Oxford Templeton College was one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, England. It was an all-graduate college, concentrating on the recruitment of students in business and management studies. In 2008, the college merged with Green ...

. Cliffe married Josephine Jessie Winefield in 1969. They were to have one son and two daughters.

Member of Parliament

Cliffe was a Member of Parliament for the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

from 1990 to 1996. In

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

he replaced the retiring

George Gair George Frederick Gair (13 October 1926 – 17 August 2015) was a New Zealand politician. He was once deputy leader of the National Party in the New Zealand Parliament, and was considered by many to be a possible contender for the leadership it ...

in the North Shore seat, and was re-elected in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. He became a Cabinet Minister in December 1993 holding the portfolios of Accident Compensation, Radio & Television, and Associate Finance. In 1994 he proposed Water Services Limited (Auckland Emergency water supply) bill. In 1995, with the first

mixed-member proportional Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral systems which combine local winner-take-all elections with a compensatory tier with party lists, in a way that produces pr ...

(MMP) representation election impending in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, he resigned his cabinet posts and was a founder member of the

United New Zealand United New Zealand () was a centrist political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about poli ...

Party, initially led by

Clive Matthewson Clive Denby Matthewson (born 1944) is a New Zealand civil engineer and former politician. Biography Early life and career Matthewson was born in Wellington in 1944. He was educated at Waitaki Boys' High School and University of Canterbury. H ...

. Cliffe then unsuccessfully sought to bring about a merger of ACT and United, along with other smaller "centre" or liberal parties to create a "united" centre party for the new MMP environment. In 1996 he chose to resign from Parliament. The United New Zealand Party lost all but

Peter Dunne Peter Francis Dunne (born 17 March 1954) is a New Zealand retired politician. Dunne was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ōhāriu electorate and its predecessors from 1984 to 2017, first as a member of the Labour Party from 1984 to 1 ...

's seat in the 1996 election, and continued in Parliament under Dunne's leadership. On 27–29 May 1995, he participated in "Wellington After the Quake" Conference (page 191).

After politics

From 1997, Cliffe was the director of several businesses, including Northern Finance Limited, a property management company, and Millbank Technology Limited, trading as Zapmill. In 2016, Cliffe expressed his disagreement with Living Earth getting a consent to process 75,000 tonnes of garden waste annually on Puketutu Island. Cliffe died on 13 July 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cliffe, Bruce 1946 births 2022 deaths United New Zealand MPs New Zealand National Party MPs Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand People educated at Takapuna Grammar School Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates University of Auckland alumni Alumni of Templeton College, Oxford