John Wybrow

John Francis William Wybrow (2 April 1928 – 29 July 2019) was a New Zealand politician and diplomat. He was the secretary of the Labour Party and later New Zealand's High Commissioner to Canada.

Biography Early life and career Wybrow was born on 2 April 1928 in Owaka in The Catlins. He was educated at the Marist Brothers High School in Invercargill and was a South Island softball representative and also active competitor in both rugby and athletics. He then left school to work in a tile factory. He later worked in the Ocean Beach freezing works in Bluff before working in the construction industry, helping to build the Roxburgh Dam. While in Roxburgh he moved into an administrative role at the Ministry of Works and Development. He was subsequently appointed to the positions district treasury officer in Dunedin, administration officer in Alexandra and district treasury officer in Wellington. He was then employed by the Decimal Currency Board as an executive officer and put in charge of public education and staff training programmes before being seconded in 1968 to a private secretary role in the office of the Leader of the Opposition. He was then promoted to a role at New Zealand Treasury in 1970. He was an executive officer in charge of Treasury's electronic data processing section. The selection committee was split 3 to 3 between Wybrow and Kirk's son John. The nomination ultimately went to Kirk after Labour's vice-president Gerald O'Brien switched his vote.

After Bill Rowling was chosen as Kirk's successor as Prime Minister, Wybrow was among those who was unenthusiastic about the idea of holding a snap election under the guise of seeking a personal mandate for Rowling as Premier citing a lack of funding. Wybrow stood unsuccessfully for the Miramar electorate in the election, losing to the incumbent National MP Bill Young by 1,749 votes. He was the subject of criticism for running in a local electorate race while at the same time having the responsibility of overseeing Labour's nationwide campaign. Having divided interests was thought to have contributed to Labour's 1975 campaign failure.

In the attempted leadership coup against Rowling in 1980 by his deputy, David Lange, Wybrow was among those (such as Jim Anderton) who sided with Rowling. He sought the nomination for the Miramar seat again ahead of the election and, acknowledging the criticism from 1975, stated that if he won the nomination he would resign as general-secretary prior to the election were he to be successful.

In the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours, Wybrow was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.

Later life and death Wybrow died on 29 July 2019. He was survived by three children.