Peter Colin Hodgson is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party

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....

.

Hodgson was born in Whangarei

Whangarei

Whangarei, pronounced , is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District, administered by the Whangarei District Council a local body created in 1989 to administer both the...

, and received a Bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in veterinary science

Veterinary medicine

Veterinary Medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals...

 from Massey University

Massey University

Massey University is one of New Zealand's largest universities with approximately 36,000 students, 20,000 of whom are extramural students.The University has campuses in Palmerston North , Wellington and Auckland . Massey offers most of its degrees extramurally within New Zealand and internationally...

. He has worked as a veterinarian, a high school teacher, and a fruit and vegetable retailer.

Member of Parliament

Hodgson joined the Labour Party in 1976, and shortly afterwards became the manager for Stan Rodger

Stan Rodger

Stanley Joseph Rodger was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.He represented the electorate of Dunedin North in Parliament from 1978 to 1990, when he retired and was replaced by Pete Hodgson. He was the Minister of Labour and formerly employed by the Public Service Association...

's successful campaign in the Dunedin North

Dunedin North (New Zealand electorate)

Dunedin North is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was established for the 1905 election and has existed since....

 seat. After holding a number of other Labour Party roles, including that of marginal seat

Marginal seat

A marginal seat, or swing seat, is a constituency held with a particularly small majority in a legislative election, generally conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat....

s organiser, he was himself nominated to replace Rodger in the 1990 elections

New Zealand general election, 1990

The 1990 New Zealand general election was held on 27 October to determine the composition of the 43rd New Zealand parliament. The governing Labour Party was defeated, ending its controversial two terms in office...

. He was successful, and has remained the MP for Dunedin North.

When the Labour Party formed a government after the 1999 elections

New Zealand general election, 1999

The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour Party and the smaller Alliance...

, Hodgson was appointed to Cabinet

New Zealand Cabinet

The Cabinet of New Zealand functions as the policy and decision-making body of the executive branch within the New Zealand government system...

. During Labour's nine years in power, Hodgeson's portfolios included Economic Development; Tertiary Education; Research, Science and Technology; Health

Minister of Health (New Zealand)

The Minister of Health is a minister in the government of New Zealand with responsibility for the New Zealand Ministry of Health and the District Health Boards.The present Minister is Tony Ryall, a member of the National Party.-History:...

; Transport; Commerce; Land Information; Statistics; Energy (1999–2004); and Fisheries and Forestry. He was also Associate Minister of Health; Industry and Regional Development; and Foreign Affairs.

In May 2007, Hodgson briefed the Welsh Labour Party's executive on the practicalities of co-operation between Welsh parties outside a formal coalition, after the 2007 Welsh Assembly elections

National Assembly for Wales election, 2007

The 2007 National Assembly election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland, and the Scottish Parliament election took place...

 led to a Labour minority government looking likely.

Labour was defeated 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...

. Hodgson retained his seat with a majority of 7,155.

In opposition, Hodgson was Labour's "chief dirt-digger and mudslinger". The scandals he exposed caused two government ministers to resign.

On 4 June 2010 Hodgson, one of Dunedin's longest-serving MPs announced he will retire from politics at the next election in 2011 and end his time in parliament after 21 years as the MP for Dunedin North.

External links

• Pete Hodgson at the New Zealand Parliament website

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