Norman George

Who is Norman George?

Norman George is a Cook Islands politician and former Speaker of the Cook Islands Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister, and Cabinet Minister.

George was born in Atiu in the Cook Islands. He worked as a police officer, first for the Cook Islands Police and then for the New Zealand Police Force, before working as a lawyer in Rarotonga. He was first elected to the Cook Islands Parliament in 1983.

Between 1984 and 1989 George was a cabinet Minister in the coalition governments of Tom Davis and Pupuke Robati, holding the portfolios of Foreign Affairs, Customs, Parliamentary Services, Cook Islands Development Bank, Police and Attorney General.

In 1992 George was expelled from the Democratic Party after a dispute over spending. He established the Alliance Party, which subsequently won two seats in the 1994 elections. The party, rebranded as the New Alliance Party, won four seats at the 1999 elections, and George became Deputy Prime Minister. He was sacked from that role after he defected to the opposition in October, 1999, but regained the position in exchange for his party's support of Terepai Maoate as Prime Minister.

The New Alliance Party subsequently merged with the Democratic Alliance Party, and George held several portfolios in the coalition government of Robert Woonton before being sacked again in 2002. A series of scandals over conflicts of interest, the apparent sale of a residency permit to New Zealand developer Mark Lyon, and a court case over "double dipping" saw George decline in popularity. When the Democratic Party did not select him as a candidate for the 2004 elections, he split from the party and established the Tumu Enua Party, but failed to win reelection.