Colin Scrimgeour

Who was Colin Scrimgeour?

The Reverend Colin Graham Scrimgeour, known as Uncle Scrim or Scrim was a New Zealand Methodist Minister and broadcaster.

Born in Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, he entered the Methodist Ministry in 1923 and concentrated on social work. He was Auckland Methodist City Missioner for six years. After broadcasting from Radio Station 1ZR - run by the firm of Lewis Eady - he established the Friendly Road Broadcasting Station 1ZB in 1933, associated with the Friendly Road church. Shortly before the 1935 election on Sunday 24 November, an address by Uncle Scrim which was expected to urge listeners to vote Labour was jammed by the Post Office. The minister in charge of the P&T Department, Adam Hamilton, was blamed, although he denied responsibility.

As a close friend of Michael Joseph Savage and John A. Lee of the First Labour Government which came to power in 1935, Scrimgeour became Controller of the government-run National Commercial Broadcasting Service.

Peter Fraser - an enemy of Scrimgeour - succeeded Savage as Prime Minister after the latter's death in 1940. In the 1943 elections, Scrimgeour stood against Fraser in Wellington Central as an Independent candidate. He performed so well that Fraser "only sneaked back on a minority vote".