Neil Morrison

Who was Neil Morrison?

Neil Joseph Morrison was a New Zealand politician of the Social Credit Party.

He won the Pakuranga seat in the 1984 election by 419 votes, from two-term MP Pat Hunt. Garry Knapp retained East Coast Bays, but the party leader Bruce Beetham lost his Rangitikei seat.

In 1986 Beetham lost the leadership of the party to Morrison. On the night he was elected, the new leader implied in a TV interview that the Social Credit national dividend policy was out of date and would be dropped. This was in response to a question from the interviewer, which he might not have listened to carefully. The next day when Beetham said he was considering resigning because the new leadership was rejecting basic Social Credit philosophy, Morrison publicly retracted his comment and affirmed that the national dividend would remain an important part of Social Credit policy.

In the 1987 election Morrison was defeated by National candidate Maurice Williamson, and Knapp was defeated by another National candidate. See Social Credit Party.

He was a Manukau City Councillor, and about to run for re-election when he died in 2007.