Bruce Beetham

Bruce Beetham
5th Leader of the Social Credit Party
In office
14 May 1972 – 23 August 1986
DeputyLes Hunter (1972–77)
Jeremy Dwyer (1977–81)
Gary Knapp (1981–85)
Preceded byJohn O'Brien
Succeeded byNeil Morrison
27th Mayor of Hamilton
In office
12 May 1976 – 8 October 1977
DeputyDerek Heather
Preceded byMike Minogue
Succeeded byRoss Jansen
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Rangitikei
In office
18 February 1978 – 14 July 1984
Preceded bySir Roy Jack
Succeeded byDenis Marshall
Personal details
Born(1936-02-16)16 February 1936
New Plymouth, New Zealand
Died3 May 1997(1997-05-03) (aged 61)
Palmerston North, New Zealand
NationalityNew Zealander
Political partySocial Credit
Spouses
Raewyn Natalee Mitchell
(m. 1965; div. 1980)
Beverley May Clark
(m. 1980)
Children4
ProfessionTeacher
Signature

Bruce Craig Beetham QSO (16 February 1936 – 3 May 1997) was an academic and politician from New Zealand, whose career spanned the 1970s and early 1980s.

A lecturer at Hamilton's University of Waikato and at the Hamilton Teachers' Training College, he was elected leader of the Social Credit Political League (which he had joined in 1969) in 1972, at a time when the party was in disarray and many were questioning its chances of survival. A brilliant organiser and an electrifying speaker,[1] Beetham succeeded in rebuilding the party, and by the late 1970s it was challenging the stranglehold on the two-party system of the long-dominant National and Labour parties.

  1. ^ Bryant 1981, p. 170-1.