Leighton Baker
Leighton James Baker is a New Zealand political candidate and businessman. He was leader of the New Conservative Party from 2017 to 2020, and has contested every general election since 2008, initially for the Kiwi Party, without success. Baker joined the Conservative Party in 2011, shortly after its founding. He led the party through the 2017 and 2020 general elections, in which the party received 0.2% and 1.5% of the party vote. The party replaced him as its leader shortly after the 2020 election, and according to the party he left it around November 2020. Baker participated in the 2022 Wellington protests, and was arrested on 2 March 2022 on charges of trespassing and obstruction. In June 2023, Baker formed the Leighton Baker Party. Political career Baker stood for the Kiwi Party in the 2008 general election, the only election it contested. Like many other Kiwi Party members, he joined the Conservative Party after it was founded in 2011. He stood for it in the 2011 and subsequent elections. Baker was on the board of the Conservative Party until he resigned from it in March 2015, with then-leader and founder Colin Craig saying that Baker did not want the commitment of board meetings. Craig resigned from the party in June 2015, and all but one of the board members resigned that same month, with the last remaining one resigning in July 2015. By mid-November 2015, Baker had been elected by the party to be the party board chair, though some media reports referred to him as the party spokesman. The board ran the party in place of a single leader from after Craig's resignation until 24 January 2017, when it announced Baker was the new party leader. 2017 general election When the University of Auckland Debating Society organised a cross-party debate in March 2017, more parties than expected accepted the invitation and the society decided to limit it to parties that had been in Parliament, and they withdrew the invitation to the Conservatives. Baker stated that, despite thinking the move was unfair, he would not follow Colin Craig's footsteps by taking the matter to court. Baker contested the Epsom electorate in the 2017 New Zealand general election held on 23 September. The Conservatives' share of the party vote fell to 0.2% (6,253) in the election, below the five percent margin needed to enter Parliament. Baker came sixth in the Epsom race with 0.6% of the vote, the seat being won by the incumbent David Seymour, the leader of the ACT Party. Following the 2017 election, Baker remained leader, with the Conservatives rebranding themselves as the New Conservative Party at their annual general meeting in November 2017. 2020 general election In early October 2020, Baker unsuccessfully challenged public broadcaster TVNZ's decision to exclude the New Conservatives from the TVNZ Minor Parties' election debate. Baker contested Waimakariri in the 2020 New Zealand general election held on 17 October, coming third place with 2,057 votes. His party received 1.5% of the party vote.