RIP Mike Moore – One of New Zealand’s Real Statesmen – 28 Jan, 1949 – Feb 02, 2020
Many New Zealanders will remember Mike Moore for his very short stint as Prime Minister from September to November 1990. Not unlike the present Prime Minister, who replaced a very low polling Andrew Little, he replaced a very low polling Geoffrey Palmer as Labour leader (and Prime Minister) just weeks before the election and delivered what was to become a weird and somewhat premature, over-exuberant victory speech on election night. Someone got the numbers wrong and poor old Mike, who thought he’d delivered a wonderful victory had to backtrack and concede defeat.
Mike was a deep thinker and very capable of operating well outside the square. There will be few people who had anything to do with him who wouldn’t concede that regardless of political or philosophical differences, he was a “good bugger” and always ready, willing and able to have a healthy conversation with pretty much anybody about pretty much anything.
There were many dichotomies about him. He was a staunch, committed Labour man with a deeply held belief that as a society, we needed to do better for the “average” person. Yet he had a clear recognition and understanding that to do that, we needed to have a thriving economy, driven by private enterprise, unhindered by too much government regulation. He had perhaps a slight philosophical lean towards socialism, tempered by an understanding of the need for capitalism to pay for the social programmes.
It’s perhaps unfair to comment in simplistic terms about a man who was in fact a very simple average kiwi bloke in so many ways, yet a highly complex and “big picture” thinker in others.
Suffice it to say that he was always a gentleman, an extremely proud kiwi and a man of integrity who despite many health issues over the years, managed to fight back and keep contributing.
He was a living example of the real self-made man. After leaving school at the age of 14 he homeschooled himself in the University of Life to become Director-General of the World Trade Organization in 1999.
It’s a success story worth knowing about and Mike Moore is a man worthy of our most positive thoughts.
Deepest sympathies to Yvonne, his family and close friends. Rest in Peace.