Michael Moore

Michael Moore (1949- ), New Zealand politician, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1990), and Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO, 1999-2002). Moore was born in Whakatane, New Zealand, and was educated at Bay of Islands College and Dilworth School. He held a variety of jobs, including social worker and printer, becoming an active trade unionist. He became the first youth representative on the executive of the Labour Party, before entering parliament in 1972 as Labour MP for Eden. Although losing that seat in 1975, he became MP for Papanui in 1978.

When the Labour Party, led by David Lange, won the 1984 election, Moore entered the government. Between 1984 and 1990, he held several portfolios including serving as Minister of Overseas Trade and Marketing, Minister of Tourism and Publicity, Minister of Recreation and Sport, and Minister of External Relations and International Trade. He became best known for his role in the Uruguay Round of negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. In January 1990, Moore became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government led by Geoffrey Palmer, having lost to Palmer in a leadership election following the resignation of Lange in 1989. However, sensing that he was losing support within both a divided party and country, Palmer resigned his office and on September 4, Moore became prime minister.

Moore had little time to make an impact as prime minister as on October 27, 1990, his Labour Party lost a general election fought mainly over economic issues, and the National Party, led by James Bolger, took power. Moore had been prime minister for only eight weeks.

Between 1990 and 1993, Moore was the Leader of the Opposition, when he was succeeded by Helen Clark. In 1996 he became Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs and trade, a position which became a springboard for his decision to run for the position of Director-General of the WTO. He was elected to the post in July 1999, taking up office in September. In the third Ministerial Conference of the WTO held in Seattle in November 1999, which was the focus of widespread protests and riots aimed at destabilizing the talks, Moore insisted that the poor of the world would benefit from improvements in free trade. Attempts to start a new round of trade talks were continually frustrated by the divide between the US, the EU, and the developing world, in particular on agriculture, and the continuing protests against globalization. It became increasingly unlikely that a new round would be launched before the end of Moore's truncated term as director-general in 2002.