George Forsyth

George Frederick Harry Forsyth (23 October 1898 – 13 August 1974) was a New Zealand trade unionist and politician.

Biography Early life Forsyth was born in England in 1898. He served in the Royal Navy during World War I and fought at the Battle of Jutland, Dogger Bank, Heligoland and the Zeebrugge Raid. One of his most vivid memories from the war was meeting Colonel T. E. Lawrence whilst he was serving off the Palestinian and Syrian coast aboard the . He was subsequently a member of the King's Empire Veterans.

In 1925 he married Edith Elizabeth Ellen Jordan. During World War II he commanded the Auckland Home Guard.

Union and public involvement He came to New Zealand in 1923 as a seamanship instructor and became active in union affairs before finally retiring from the Navy in 1930. Forsyth was an active trade unionist for 44 years until retiring as the President of the Auckland Caretakers, Cleaners, Lift Attendants and Watchmen's Union at the age of 74. By his retirement he was a life member of the union.

During the campaign he was vocal in his criticisms of Robinson's political style and predilection for self-promotion. At one public meeting he said "Civic leaders are so busy creating an image for themselves they are forgetting the people they should be serving" and later in the campaign Forsyth was even less subtle, describing Robinson as someone "who had set himself up as a god [and] who thinks it wrong for anyone to stand against him". Forsyth finished a distant third with 3,373 votes, splitting the vote with Robinson to let the Citizens & Ratepayers candidate Roy McElroy to win by 1,134 votes. Forsyth was re-elected to the council along with Dreaver but no other Labour candidates were elected as had been predicted by Forsyth's mayoral candidature.

Ahead of the 1968 elections Robinson was invited to attend a Labour Representation Council meeting where Forsyth put it that if Robinson were to join the party and subscribe to its principles and policies, he would fully support him for mayor. Robinson declined and Forsyth withdrew his offer of conditional support. By this time however it had become clear that a Labour mayoral candidate had not brought further Labour candidates to the council as had been hoped, nor could a Labour candidate win a three-way race. Labour supporters did not view a further three years of McElroy as appealing with McElroy having no policies, except possibly in the area of council housing, that had benefited working-class people whilst Robinson's proposals to build a rapid rail system could provide them employment opportunities and cheaper transit. Forsyth and a minority of Labour members felt differently though and remained hostile to Robinson's political independence and his personal style.

After failing to convince the Labour Party to run a mayoral candidate, Forsyth did the unthinkable and decided to resign and run as an independent candidate. Labelling himself a "Labour Independent", he viewed himself as the guardian of the Labour's true principles and consequently the genuine candidate. It is speculated that he would have known his chances of victory were non-existent, but as Forsyth preferred McElroy to Robinson he was content to be the spoiler against Robinson's potential comeback candidate. Despite being members of different parties Forsyth and McElroy were friends and viewed each other as team players (contrasting to Robinson's individualistic style). Facing bitter opposition to his independent candidature Forsyth received half a dozen threatening telephone calls (who did not reveal their names) and even members of his family were abused whilst travelling publicly in buses. Forsyth said he was not worried about the callers but thought it was a "pretty poor state of affairs" that he could not offer himself as a candidate for public office in without encountering "Chicago-style opposition." Forsyth's vote fell to less than half his 1965 total and Robinson defeated McElroy. He was also defeated for a seat on the city council.

Despite having twice resigned from the party he described himself as "true to the principles of Labour and to the service of my city and my country".