Walter Nash

The Right Honourable Sir Walter Nash GCMG CH
Portrait, c. 1940s
27th Prime Minister of New Zealand
In office 12 December 1957 – 12 December 1960
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor‑General	Charles Lyttelton
Deputy	Jerry Skinner
Preceded by	Keith Holyoake
Succeeded by	Keith Holyoake
14th Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 12 December 1957 – 12 December 1960
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Tom Macdonald
Succeeded by	Keith Holyoake
5th Leader of the Labour Party
In office 17 January 1951 – 31 March 1963
Deputy	Jerry Skinner Fred Hackett
Preceded by	Peter Fraser
Succeeded by	Arnold Nordmeyer
27th Minister of Finance
In office 6 December 1935 – 13 December 1949
Prime Minister	Michael Joseph Savage Peter Fraser
Preceded by	Gordon Coates
Succeeded by	Sidney Holland
35th Minister of Customs
In office 6 December 1935 – 13 December 1949
Prime Minister	Michael Joseph Savage Peter Fraser
Preceded by	Gordon Coates
Succeeded by	Charles Bowden
14th President of the Labour Party
In office 24 April 1935 – 14 April 1936
Vice President	James Roberts
Preceded by	Tim Armstrong
Succeeded by	Clyde Carr
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Hutt
In office 18 December 1929 – 4 June 1968
Preceded by	Thomas Wilford
Succeeded by	Trevor Young
Personal details
Born	(1882-02-12)12 February 1882 Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England
Died	4 June 1968(1968-06-04) (aged 86) Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Nationality	New Zealand
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Lotty May Eaton ​ ​ (m. 1906; died 1961)​
Children	4[1]
Relatives	Stuart Nash (great-grandson)
Signature

Sir Walter Nash GCMG CH PC (12 February 1882 – 4 June 1968) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 27th prime minister of New Zealand in the Second Labour Government from 1957 to 1960. He is noted for his long period of political service, having been associated with the New Zealand Labour Party since its creation.

Nash was born in the West Midlands, England, and is the most recent New Zealand prime minister to be born outside the country. He arrived in New Zealand in 1909, soon joined the original Labour Party, and became a member of the party's executive in 1919. Guided to politics by his beliefs in Anglicanism, Christian socialism and pacifism, he gained a reputation for brilliant ability as an organiser and administrator which compensated for a lack of charisma and bouts of indecisiveness.

Nash was elected to the House of Representatives in the Hutt by-election of 1929. He served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the Hutt electorate for 13 consecutive terms, over a period of 38 years and 168 days. As of 2023, he is the fourth-longest serving MP.^[2] Appointed as minister of finance in 1935, Nash guided the First Labour Government's economic recovery programme during the Great Depression and then directed the government's wartime controls. At 14 years he has the longest period of continuous service of any New Zealand minister of finance, and this service included the entire period of World War II. He succeeded Peter Fraser as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition in 1951. He was from the moderate wing of the Labour Party and was criticised by the left wing of the party for failing to support the strikers during the 1951 Waterfront Dispute, and for not taking stronger action over the controversial exclusion of Māori players from the 1960 rugby tour of South Africa.

In the 1957 election, the Labour Party won a narrow victory and Nash became prime minister. The Second Labour Government's "Black Budget" of 1958, in response to a balance of payments crisis, increased taxes on luxuries such as beer and tobacco. Public hostility toward the budget contributed to Labour's heavy defeat in the 1960 election.^[3] Nash was active in international affairs and travelled extensively during his premiership, revising trade terms and supporting aid and development in other nations. Leaving office at 78 years of age, Nash is to date New Zealand's oldest prime minister. He died on 4 June 1968 at the age of 86 while still a serving MP, apparently the oldest person to be a serving MP.^[4] He was accorded a state funeral, the first in New Zealand for 18 years.