Jim Sutton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Parl. | Electorate | List Pos. | Party |
| 41st | Waitaki | Labour | |
| 42nd | Waitaki | Labour | |
| 44th | Timaru | Labour | |
| 45th | Aoraki | 18 | Labour |
| 46th | Aoraki | 11 | Labour |
| 47th | Aoraki | 8 | Labour |
| 48th | List | 11 | Labour |
James Robert Sutton, CNZM (born 7 November 1941), generally known as Jim Sutton, is a New Zealand politician. He currently serves as a Cabinet Minister, he is the minister for Trade Negotiations. Sutton was born in Reading, Berkshire, England. He came to New Zealand while young, arriving in 1949. He attended high school in Timaru before becoming a farmer. He has held a number of offices in Federated Farmers, a nation-wide agricultural association. He was also Director of Trustbank South Canterbury.
Sutton first stood for parliament in the election of 1981, becoming the Labour Party's candidate for the Waitaki seat. He was unsuccessful. In the 1984 election, however, he stood again, and won the seat. Most rural electorates in New Zealand traditionally support the National Party, and so Sutton's victory as a Labour candidate is noteworthy.
Sutton retained his seat in the 1987 elections, but was defeated in the election of 1990. He returned to farming for three years before being returned to parliament as the MP for Timaru in the 1993 elections. The switch to the MMP electoral system later caused significant redistribution of electorates - Sutton became the MP for Aoraki, which includes both of his former electorates.
Sutton's first ministerial role had come in the dying days of the Fourth Labour Government, shortly before he lost his Wairaki seat. He served as Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Forestry for most of 1990, leaving cabinet when Labour was defeated in that year's election. When Labour won the 1999 elections, Sutton became a minister once again, resuming his Agriculture portfolio while also becoming Minister for Rural Affairs and Minister for Trade Negotiations. In 2001, he gained the Biosecurity portfolio, and in 2002, he regained the Forestry portfolio. In a December 2004 cabinet reshuffle he dropped his Forestry and Rural Affairs portfolios.
In the 2005 elections, Sutton lost his seat by a substantial margin, facing the biggest drop in support in any electorate. This has been contributed to anger over things such as school closures, and his role in the "speeding motorcade" affair. He remained in parliament as a list MP, but announced his retirement from politics on 10 July 2006, effective from 1 August 2006. Sutton will become a trade ambassador and the chairman of Landcorp.
Sutton is married, and has three children.
