Neale Jones: Labour man to left-wing lobbyist
Labour’s former chief of staff turned down the offer of a top job in the prime minister’s office to head up a left-wing lobbying firm’s New Zealand office.
Neale Jones was one of those behind the scenes who spent the past three years helping rebuild a near-decimated Labour Party.
Jones, who formerly worked at the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) – now E tu¯ – was recruited by Labour under former leader David Cunliffe. He worked as head of communications, then political director, and in 2016, then-leader Andrew Little named him chief of staff.
For loyal staff like Jones it was hard to see Little step aside, following Labour’s plummeting ratings two months out from the 2017 election. They saw what Little had given to the party, and staff backed him as the leader.
But as Little has said himself, the decision was made for the future of the party.
‘‘The reality is I’m in politics not for myself but to get stuff done that will change people’s lives,’’ he told ABC.
What followed Little’s resignation sounded somewhat like organised chaos.
A day-by-day plan ending on election day on the Labour leader’s board was torn up and the team hit the ground running with a new leader at the helm. Less than two months out from the election, the campaign kicked into overdrive.
Jones said the situation was similar to the infamous train chase scene from the Wallace and Gromit movie, The Wrong Trousers – they were laying the train tracks just one step ahead of the train.
He continued as Ardern’s chief of staff and had a seat at the coalition negotiating table.
Ardern was a leader who knew her mind, and was determined to do what was right, over what was politically savvy, he said, adding that she had a refreshing lack of cynicism.
And the kind, ‘‘relentlessly positive’’ leader the public saw was the same behind closed doors.
But after four years with Labour, Jones decided it was time for a change.
As New Zealand director of Hawker Britton, which is an Australian government relations firm, Jones would continue to work with Labour in a different capacity.
Hawker Britton, which had a bricks and mortar operation in New Zealand during Helen Clark’s reign, decided to re-establish its Kiwi office with the government’s swing to the left.
The firm had already seen an increase in interest from prospective clients since it announced it would be setting up shop on this side of the ditch.