Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand Labour Party, he was in office longer than any other Labour prime minister, and is to date New Zealand's fourth-longest-serving head of government.
Born and raised in the Scottish Highlands, Fraser left education early in order to support his family. While working in London in 1908, Fraser joined the Independent Labour Party, but unemployment led him to emigrate to New Zealand in 1910. On arrival in Auckland, he gained employment as a wharfie and became involved in union politics upon joining the New Zealand Socialist Party. In 1916, Fraser was involved in the foundation of the unified Labour Party. He spent one year in jail for sedition after speaking out against conscription during the First World War. In 1918, Fraser won a Wellington by-election and entered the House of Representatives.
Fraser became a cabinet minister in 1935, serving under Michael Joseph Savage. He held several portfolios and had a particular interest in education, which he considered vital for social reform. As Minister of Health, he introduced the Social Security Act 1938, which established a universal health care service. Fraser became the Leader of the Labour Party and prime minister in 1940, following Savage's death in office.
Fraser is best known for leading the country during the Second World War when he mobilised New Zealand supplies and volunteers to support Britain while boosting the economy and maintaining home front morale. He formed a war cabinet which included several erstwhile political opponents. Labour suffered significant losses in the 1943 election, though the party retained its majority.
Following the war, Fraser was active in the affairs of the 'new' Commonwealth and is credited with increasing New Zealand's international stature. Fraser led his party to its fourth successive election victory in 1946, albeit with a further reduced majority. The after-effects of the war, including ongoing shortages, were affecting his government's popularity. Labour lost the 1949 election and Fraser's government was succeeded by the first National Party government. Almost exactly one year later, Fraser died from a heart attack aged 66.
A native of Scotland, Peter Fraser was born in Hill of Fearn, a small village near the town of Tain in the Highland area of Easter Ross. He received a basic education, but had to leave school due to his family's poor financial state. Though apprenticed to a carpenter, he eventually abandoned this trade due to extremely poor eyesight – later in life, faced with difficulty reading official documents, he would insist on spoken reports rather than written ones. Before the deterioration of his vision, however, he read extensively – with socialist activists such as Keir Hardie and Robert Blatchford among his favourites.
Becoming politically active in his early teens, he was 16 years old upon attaining the post of secretary of the local Liberal Association, and, eight years later, in 1908, joined the Independent Labour Party.
In another two years, at the age of 26, after unsuccessfully seeking employment in London, Fraser decided to move to New Zealand, having apparently chosen the country in the belief that it possessed a strong progressive spirit.
He gained employment as a stevedore (or "wharfie") on arrival in Auckland, and became involved in union politics upon joining the New Zealand Socialist Party. Fraser worked as campaign manager for Michael Joseph Savage as the Socialist candidate for Auckland Central electorate. He was also involved in the New Zealand Federation of Labour, which he represented at Waihi during the Waihi miners' strike of 1912. He moved to Wellington, the country's capital, shortly afterwards. Savage went on to be Fraser's predecessor in office as the nation's first Labour prime minister.
In 1913, he participated in the founding of the Social Democratic Party and, during the year, within the scope of his union activities, found himself under arrest for breaches of the peace. While the arrest led to no serious repercussions, it did prompt a change of strategy – he moved away from direct action and began to promote a parliamentary route to power.
Upon Britain's entry into the First World War, he strongly opposed New Zealand participation since, sharing the belief of many leftist thinkers, Fraser considered the conflict an "imperialist war", fought for reasons of national interest rather than of principle.
Foundation of the Labour Party
In 1916, Fraser became involved in the foundation of the New Zealand Labour Party, which absorbed much of the moribund Social Democratic Party's membership. The members selected Harry Holland as the Labour Party's leader. Michael Joseph Savage, Fraser's old ally from the New Zealand Socialist Party, also participated.
Later in 1916, the government had Fraser and several other members of the new Labour Party arrested on charges of sedition. This resulted from their outspoken opposition to the war, and particularly their call to abolish conscription. Fraser received a sentence of one year in jail. He always rejected the verdict, claiming he would only have committed subversion had he taken active steps to undermine conscription, rather than merely voicing his disapproval.
After his release from prison, Fraser worked as a journalist for the official Labour Party newspaper. He also resumed his activities within the Labour Party, initially in the role of campaign manager for Harry Holland.
In 1919 Fraser stood on the Labour Party's ticket for the Wellington City Council. He and three others were first Labour candidates to win office on the council since before the war. Fraser led a movement on the council to establish a municipal milk distribution department in Wellington, which was to remain in operation until the 1990s. He was re-elected in 1921, though Labour lost ground only winning two seats. In 1923 Fraser stood for Mayor of Wellington. He adopted an "all or nothing" strategy by standing only for the mayoralty, refusing nomination to stand for the council also. Fraser polled higher than any Labour mayoral candidate in New Zealand history but lost by only 273 votes to Robert Wright in the closest result Wellington had ever seen.
Fraser made a comeback on the council when he was persuaded to stand in a 1933 by-election. Wright was his main opponent and was victorious in a heavy polling contest which was dubbed by the media as a "grudge match" repeat of 1923. Fraser was re-elected to the Council in 1935, topping the poll with more votes than any other candidate. The next year he decided to resign from the council in order to focus on his ministerial duties. A by-election was avoided when Andrew Parlane, also the highest polling unsuccessful candidate from 1935, was the only nominated candidate.
In a 1918 by-election, Fraser gained election to Parliament, winning the electorate of Wellington Central. He soon distinguished himself through his work to counter the influenza epidemic of 1918–19, of which Fraser was himself a survivor.