Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party title "Chairman". In 1935, Michael Joseph Savage became the first ever Labour Prime Minister, following a landslide victory. In 1963, Arnold Nordmeyer became the first Leader of the Labour Party to have been born in New Zealand. Prior to this, three Leaders had been born in Australia and one each in England and Scotland. The most electorally successful Labour Leader to date is Helen Clark, who won three elections in 1999, 2002 and 2005. Clark is also the Labour Party's longest-serving leader, having served for 14 years, 346 days between 1993 and 2008. Peter Fraser is the longest-serving Labour Prime
Helen Clark ordered a military deployment to the 2006 East Timorese crisis alongside international partners. After three successive election victories, her government was defeated in the ; Clark resigned as Prime Minister and party leader on 19 November 2008. She was succeeded as Prime Minister by John Key of the National Party, and as Leader of the Labour Party by Phil Goff. Clark resigned from Parliament in April 2009 to become the first female head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). "Forbes" magazine ranked her the 22nd most powerful woman in the world in 2016, down from 20th in 2006. In