John Spencer Boscawen (born December 1956) is a former New Zealand politician. He is a member of the

ACT New Zealand ACT New Zealand (; ), also known as the ACT Party or simply ACT, is a Right-wing politics, right-wing, Classical liberalism, classical liberal, Right-libertarianism, right-libertarian, and Conservatism, conservative List of political parties i ...

Party and served as a member of the

New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives () is the Unicameral, sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers in the New Zealand Government, ministers to form the Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, ...

from 2008 to 2011. Boscawen briefly served as deputy leader of the ACT Party and Minister of Consumer Affairs from August 2010 until May 2011, and as ACT's parliamentary leader from May 2011 until the 2011 general election.

Business career

Boscawen was an accountant in the 1980s, but became

insolvent In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet in ...

after borrowing heavily to invest in the sharemarket before the stockmarket

crash of 1987 Black Monday (also known as Black Tuesday in some parts of the world due to time zone differences) was a global, severe and largely unexpected stock market crash on Monday, October 19, 1987. Worldwide losses were estimated at US$1.71 trillion. ...

. With help from his parents, he was able to return to investing, developing the K-Mart Plaza in

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

. He became an associate member of the New Zealand Business Roundtable.ACT New Zealand MP profiles: John Boscawen.

Political career

ACT New Zealand was formed in 1994 and Boscawen became a member the following year. In 1996, he stood unsuccessfully for the party in the

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

electorate. He has served on the party's board and has been its treasurer. In the 2004 ACT Party leadership election, he backed

Stephen Franks Stephen Franks (born 1950) in Wellington, New Zealand, is a commercial lawyer. At one time, he was chairman and Partner of the large firm Chapman Tripp. Franks has been a member of two political parties. He previously served as a List MP for ...

to succeed

Richard Prebble Richard William Prebble (born 7 February 1948) is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament. Initially a member of the New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party, he joined the newly formed ACT New Zealand party under Roger Douglas in 1996, bec ...

, over the eventual winner

Rodney Hide Rodney Philip Hide (born 16 December 1956) is a former New Zealand politician of the ACT New Zealand party. Hide was a Member of Parliament for ACT from 1996 until 2011, was ACT's leader between 2004 and 2011, and represented the constituency ...

. However, Boscawen would later serve as Hide's Epsom campaign manager for the

2005 election The following elections occurred in the year 2005. * 2005 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 2005 Burkinabé presidential election * 2005 Burundian Senate election * 2005 Burundian communal elections * 2005 Burundian constitutio ...

and overall campaign manager in 2008. He also donated NZ$100,000 to the party. Before entering parliament he was best known for his campaign against the Electoral Finance Act, for which he organised protests and legal action and spent more than NZ$140,000.

Member of Parliament

In 2008, Boscawen was ranked fourth on the ACT party's list and also stood, unsuccessfully, in the North Shore electorate. With ACT winning 3.65% of the vote at the 2008 general election, Boscawen entered parliament as ACT's fourth

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than a geographic electoral district. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs only in ...

. ACT supported the Fifth National Government on confidence and supply; its leader and deputy leader,

and

Heather Roy Heather Roy (born 5 March 1964) is a former New Zealand politician. She was a Member of Parliament for ACT New Zealand from 2002 until 2011. Roy was the deputy leader of ACT New Zealand from 17 September 2005 to 17 August 2010. She was also ...

, were appointed as ministers outside of Cabinet. Boscawen sat on the Finance and Expenditure, Commerce, and Parliamentary Service select committees, and was ACT's spokesperson for a range of issues including Housing, Transport, Energy and Economic Development. In 2009 Boscawen stood as ACT's candidate for the Mount Albert electorate, in the Mount Albert by-election. Boscawen placed fourth (968 votes), winning 4.72% of the votes cast. Boscawen provided the media with one of the memorable images of the by-election, when an environmentalist squashed a

lamington A lamington is an Australian cake made from squares of butter cake or sponge cake coated in an outer layer of chocolate sauce and rolled in desiccated coconut. The thin mixture is absorbed into the outside of the sponge cake and left to set, ...

on Boscawen's head during a live televised candidates debate. On 17 August 2010, Boscawen challenged Roy for the deputy leader role and was successful with a 3–2 caucus vote. This decision followed Roy's attempt the previous year, which had been supported by ACT MP and co-founder Sir

Roger Douglas Sir Roger Owen Douglas (born 5 December 1937) is a retired New Zealand politician, economist and accountant who served as a minister in two Labour governments. He is most recognised for his key involvement in New Zealand's radical economic rest ...

, to replace Hide as party leader. As the new deputy leader, Boscawen was appointed to the government roles of Minister of Consumer Affairs and Associate Minister of Commerce, which had been respectively held by Roy and Hide as part of ACT's confidence and supply agreement with the governing National Party. As associate commerce minister, he was responsible for oversight of the

Commerce Commission The Commerce Commission () (sometimes shortened to ComCom) is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and r ...

. While consumer affairs minister, Boscawen initiated consumer law reform that was eventually passed into law in 2013. Hide resigned as ACT leader in May 2011 and was replaced by former Reserve Bank governor and

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leader

Don Brash Donald Thomas Brash (born 24 September 1940) is a former New Zealand politician who was Leader of the Opposition (New Zealand), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party, leader of the New Zealand National Party from ...

, who was not at that time a member of parliament. Boscawen was retained as deputy leader but resigned his ministerial portfolios to become the parliamentary leader of the ACT Party. He was succeeded in both portfolios by National's Simon Power. On 9 May 2011 Boscawen was granted the right to retain the title of the

Honourable ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style ...

for his lifetime. While Boscawen was initially listed second on the ACT party list for the November 2011 general election, he announced in September that he would be retiring from politics. Boscawen declined to stand on the party list but contested the electorate vote in

Tāmaki Tāmaki is a small suburb of East Auckland, 11 kilometres from the Auckland CBD, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located by the banks of the estuary, estuarial Tamaki River, Tāmaki River, which is a southern arm of the Hauraki Gulf ...

, which he, accurately, did not expect to win.

Post-parliamentary career

In January 2013 Boscawen became the president of the ACT Party.Boscawen named as new ACT president
''stuff.co.nz'', 24 January 2013 On 2 February 2014, after unsuccessfully running to be ACT Leader and Epsom candidate, he relinquished the role of president to allow

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, eco ...

philosopher

Jamie Whyte Jamie Whyte is a New Zealand classical-liberal academic and politician who was the Leader of ACT New Zealand in 2014. He unsuccessfully contested the Pakuranga electorate in the 2014 general election. At the election, Whyte held the first pos ...

to become ACT Leader and

David Seymour David Breen Seymour (born 24 June 1983) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the 21st deputy prime minister of New Zealand since 2025 and as the 1st minister for regulation since 2023. A member of the ACT Party, he has served as its ...

to become the party's new Epsom candidate.

Philanthropy

Boscawen is a trustee of the

Auckland Philharmonia The Auckland Philharmonia (formerly Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, APO) is a symphony orchestra based in Auckland, New Zealand. Its principal concert venue is the Auckland Town Hall, and it is also the accompanying ensemble for Auckland stage ...

Foundation and the

Otahuhu College Otahuhu College is a secondary school in Auckland, New Zealand for students years 9 to 13. Location It is located in the suburb of Ōtāhuhu and is a co-educational school. The main campus entrance is on Mangere Road, the Memorial Field sport ...

Foundation.

References

External links

Boscawen, John: Maiden Statements
at New Zealand Parliament {{DEFAULTSORT:Boscawen, John ACT New Zealand MPs Living people New Zealand accountants New Zealand businesspeople New Zealand list MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives University of Auckland alumni Unsuccessful candidates in the 1996 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2011 New Zealand general election 1956 births