Nat. candidate away at election

Press, 29 July 1987, Page 13

Nat. candidate away at election

PA Auckland National’s Titirangi candidate, Mr John Mclntosh, will be out of New Zealand for the rest of the election campaign, party sources have said.

Mr Mclntosh, a lawyer in sole practice at Henderson, had gone to London and Nigeria on legal business.

“It puts us in a little bit of an awkward position, but the guy has to look at what his chances are realistically,” said the party’s electorate chairman, Mr Chris Podwin.

Mr Podwin has previously said that a poll conducted for his party in Titirangi put Labour ahead, but he would not say by what margin.

The Labour member of Parliament, Mr Ralph Maxwell, had a majority of 4474 at the last election over Mr Mclntosh, a candidate in 1984 for the first time. The seat was then called Waitakere.

Mr Mclntosh, aged 39, is a member of the Takapuna City Council. Mr Podwin said, “I do not want anyone to think we are throwing in the towel. That is far from the case. It is just one of those unfortunate things. “John Mclntosh may be out of the country for a month or so, but can Ralph Maxwell explain what he has done in Wellington for the last nine years? He might as well have been overseas.”