“Sir Leslie Munro Loneliest M.P.”

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30937, 18 December 1965, Page 16

“Sir Leslie Munro Loneliest M.P.”

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, Dec. 17. Sir Leslie Munro, the Government member for Waipa, is “the loneliest man in the lobbies of New Zealand’s Parliament,” writes the Wellington correspondent of the “Guardian.”

He says Sir Leslie Munro, a former president of the United Nations General Assembly, and for two years secre-tary-general of the International Commission of Jurists, is ignored by his own party and ridiculed by the Opposition.

“Yet, enigmatically, he still commands support throughout the country, sufficient to nourish his own powerful ambition to become Prime Minister." The correspondent says Sir Leslie Munro captured headlines in New Zealand by his rebellion against the Governments’ News Media Ownership Bill. “In crossing the floor of the House to vote against his own

party, he underlined his independence of the party line—and to New Zealanders, accustomed to the sight of politicians following their leaders into the lobbies like welltrained sheep, his action suggested a courage far beyond the call of duty. “Taunted by the Opposition, Sir Leslie Munro hit back in a fine fury at what he called their ‘scurrilous’ attacks on him. But as the Opposition continued to make political capital of his revolt, the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) was drawn into the fray.” “Cardinal Sin”

The .correspondent says that Mr Holyoake made it painfully plain that he thought Sir Leslie Munro had betrayed the party cause—“and those who know Mr Holyoake are aware that, to him, this is the cardinal sin.” “Sir Leslie Munro refers to the Prime Minister as ‘my distinguished friend’ in the tone of voice that suggests the opposite. For his part, Mr Holyoake indicated his opinion of Sir Leslie Munro’s talents by relegating him to the most distant of the crossbenches, and offering him a Parliamentary room tucked away in an obscure corner of the buildings, not far from the kitchens of Bellamys. “As if he has not made the point clear enough, he made Sir Leslie Munro a rank and file member of the External Affairs Committee of the House, appointing over his head one of the party’s backwoodsmen.”

The correspondent comments that though opinions may differ about Sir Leslie Munro’s talents, there is “no gainsaying his experience on the world stage.”