The McGillicuddy Serious Party (McGSP) was a satirical political party in New Zealand. For many years, from 1984 to 1999, McGillicuddy Serious provided "colour" to New Zealand politics to ensure that the political process is not taken too seriously. The party's logo, the head of a medieval court jester, was indicative of McGillicuddy Serious's status as a joke party. The party stood candidates in the 1984, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996 and 1999 General Elections; the 1986, 1989, 1992, 1995, 1998 Local Body elections; along with various local body and parliamentary by-elections and even some university student association elections.
The McGillicuddy Serious Party was founded in the 1984 in Hamilton as the political arm of Clan McGillicuddy, which had been established in 1978. Members of the Clan had stood as candidates in 1983 local body elections in the Waikato, but the McGSP was established in time to contest the 1984 General Election. The party had a strong Scottish theme, and the kilt was considered to be one of the party's symbols. Initially many candidates were students of University of Waikato. They also included a number of street performers and comedic musical groups, such as the Serious Ukelele ensemble and the Big Muffin Serious Band.
After discovering that he had some (rather obscure) relationship to the Stuart pretenders, Clan McGillicuddy advanced Bonnie Prince Geoffie the reluctant as replacement for Queen Elizabeth II. The Clan attempted to settle the matter by trial by combat, challenging the New Zealand Army to a pillow fight. Although HRH's official armed defenders declined the offer, the McGillicuddy Highland Army occasionally fought the loyalist forces of Alf's Imperial Army, a pro British pacifist warfare group who supported The Wizard of New Zealand and McGillicuddy's rival for the silly vote, the Imperial British Conservative Party. The part was sometimes the subject of aggression from unexpected quarters—in 1990 Green party candidate Warrick Pudney challenged his Te Atatu rival to a paper sword fight in Aotea square (the fight was declared a draw, both combatants were treated for paper cuts). Unarmed insurrection having failed, the Clan reluctantly turned to the ballot box, from 1984 to 1999 contesting general elections.
Party candidates for election were at one point selected through trial by combat, with newspaper swords and water balloons, the loser of the combat becoming the candidate. In 1990 this policy was replaced by standing several candidates for the same seat (it being illegal for the same candidate to contest two seats, doubling their chances of election, but legal for a party to have two candidates standing in the same electorate, halving their chances). In 1996, Canterbury regional electorate candidates were selected by a giant game of musical chairs in Cathedral Square, Christchurch. Whoever was sitting on one of the labelled chairs when the music stopped became the candidate for that seat. Candidates for proportional representation list seats were selected Cinderella style by trying to fit into labelled shoes.
McGillicuddy Serious party's policies were selected on the basis of their absurdity and their impracticality.
Central McGillicuddy Serious policies in every election were a return to a medieval lifestyle, known as the "Great Leap Backwards" and the restoration of a monarchy supposedly based on the Scottish Jacobite line, in the name of Bonnie Prince Geoffie "the reluctant".
Other policies at various times included:
McGillicuddy Serious attracted a surprising level of support, and became one of the larger parties outside parliament. On a number of occasions, particularly with the introduction of the MMP electoral system, it was predicted that McGillicuddy Serious might actually win parliamentary representation, although this never happened. When the major parties boycotted the Tauranga by-election 1993, McGillicuddy Serious candidate finished second to Winston Peters. A very, very distant second. Votes for McGillicuddy were most often protest votes, something that the party encouraged with one of its slogans: "If you want to waste your vote, vote for us."
As time went on, McGillicuddy Serious began to encounter the problem that often appears in joke parties—a debate about exactly how serious it should be. The original founders of the party essentially saw it as "a bit of fun", aimed at providing humour and entertainment. This remained a major part of McGillicuddy Serious throughout its history. Later recruits to the party however, sometimes saw the party's satire in a more serious context, believing that it was a tool by which the political establishment could be ridiculed and challenged. In particular, a number of anarchists joined the party, seeing it as an antidote to the traditional order. The dichotomy, in essence, was between "satire for fun" and "satire to make a political point". Many of the party's original members resented what they saw as a usurpation of the party for more avowedly political and anarchist purposes. They believed that even anarchists are not immune to being satirised, and that for the party to be openly "anarchist" was to thus make some area of politics "off limits" to satire. This was seen as an anathema. In addition they saw having a clearly identifiable stance as lessening the party's effectiveness as satirists. Other members however saw no problem with the more openly anarchist viewpoints that were expressed.
The 1999 election campaign was a disappointment. The McGillicuddy Serious Party gained only 0.15% of the vote, a considerable drop from its previous performances. Shortly after the election, the party was disbanded, with its leader Graeme Cairns walking around the square in Christchurch in winter with a sign hanging from his neck reading 'I am a liar' while informing people that he was "The only honest politician".
A number of former McGillicuddy Serious members went on to stand as candidates for "real" parties, particularly the Greens—Nandor Tanczos and Metiria Turei, both Green MPs, are former members of McGillicuddy Serious. Other prominent McGillicuddy candidates from this first generation of McGillicuddy electioneering included founder and Party Leader Graeme Cairns, "Laird of Hamilton"; Mark Servian; KT Julian, a long time Party Deputy Leader; Adrian Holroyd; Cecil G. Murgatroyd (who subsquently stood against Australia Prime Minister Bob Hawke under the Imperial British Conservative Party banner); Sam Buchanan; Steve Richards; Donna Demente; and Penny Bousfield.
Some of the party's original members were upset when their lifetime membership was cancelled. In July 2005 a 'McGillicuddy Serious party' put out a press release announcing plans to participate in the 2005 General election—one initial policy was to replace MPs with harmless jargon generators. The press release was put out by a former member without the knowledge of the Clan McGillicuddy's senior members and the McGSP's former leadership.
After intense discussions within the Clan McGillicuddy, no further press releases appeared, no official party was registered, and neither the party nor any candidates appeared on the 2005 ballot.