Jonathan Young is a National Party

New Zealand National Party

The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...

 Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives

New Zealand House of Representatives

The New Zealand House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the legislature of New Zealand. The House and the Queen of New Zealand form the New Zealand Parliament....

 for New Plymouth

New Plymouth (New Zealand electorate)

New Plymouth is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate. It was first created for the 1st New Zealand Parliament in 1853 and has existed since, with one 22-year interruption...

. He was first elected in the 2008 general election

New Zealand general election, 2008

The 2008 New Zealand general election was held on 8 November 2008 to determine the composition of the 49th New Zealand parliament. The conservative National Party, headed by its Parliamentary leader John Key, won a plurality of votes and seats, ending 9 years of government dominated by the social...

, with the country's smallest election night majority.

Early years

Jonathan Young is the son of Venn Young

Venn Young

Venn Spearman Young was a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the National Party, and served as a Cabinet Minister in the government of Robert Muldoon. He is known for his failed attempt to legalise "homosexual acts" in 1975.-Early life:Young was born in Stratford, Taranaki...

, a National MP from 1966 to 1990.
Before entering politics, Young was the Senior Minister at CityChurch Waitakere in West Auckland

West Auckland

West Auckland is a village in County Durham, in North East England. It is situated to the west of Bishop Auckland, on the A688 road.It is not known exactly when West Auckland was first inhabited, but there is evidence of Auckland West in the history of St. Cuthbert in the 11th century...

 for 18 years. He has also been a primary school teacher and an 'itinerant' teacher of the Māori language

Maori language

Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...

, and a financial administrator. In addition, he has been involved in development work in Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

.

Member of Parliament

In the 2008 election, Young was narrowly victorious in the New Plymouth seat against long-standing Labour

New Zealand Labour Party

The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....

 incumbent

Incumbent

The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...

 Harry Duynhoven

Harry Duynhoven

Harry James Duynhoven is a New Zealand politician. He is the current mayor of the city of New Plymouth and surrounding districts. He assumed office in October 2010. He was a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party.-Early life:...

. Young's final majority was 105 votes - a margin of 0.3% of the total vote count in that electorate. New Plymouth had been one of the seats that the party had focused on as they had won the party vote in the 2005 election

New Zealand general election, 2005

The 2005 New Zealand general election held on 17 September 2005 determined the composition of the 48th New Zealand Parliament. No party won a majority in the unicameral House of Representatives, but the Labour Party of Prime Minister Helen Clark secured two more seats than nearest rival, the...

 and campaign head Steven Joyce

Steven Joyce

Steven Leonard Joyce is a New Zealand politician, who entered the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2008 as a member of the New Zealand National Party...

 felt that 'it had swung further our way'.

Shortly after the election Young was criticised by the GayNZ.com

GayNZ.com

GayNZ.com is the leading Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community news website for New Zealand.It posts daily local and international news stories, monitors fundamentalist Christian politics in New Zealand and associated anti-gay pressure groups, reports on political developments related...

 website for his statement that 'one of my associates was an ex-lesbian' and for his involvement with Teen Challenge

Teen Challenge

Teen Challenge is a Pentecostal Christian recovery program and a network of Christian social and evangelizing work centers. It is a 12-18 month program that serves drug addicts, alcoholics, gang members, prostitutes and people with other characteristics that the program considers to be...

, a Christian youth organisation with links to the ex-gay

Ex-gay

The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that seek to get people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires, to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relationship...

movement.