Prime Minister of New Zealand ministerial power; in 1912 Thomas Mackenzie was the last prime minister to lose power through an unsuccessful confidence motion in the House of Representatives. One change brought about by the First World War was direct participation in governing the British Empire. Previously, New Zealand prime ministers had attended occasional colonial and imperial conferences, but they otherwise communicated with London through the governor (a position then appointed by the British government). In 1917, however, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George offered the New Zealand prime minister a seat in the Imperial War Cabinet, the British Empire's wartime coordinating body. In 1919,
Acting prime minister Acting prime minister An acting Prime Minister is a cabinet member (often in Westminster system countries) who is serving in the role of Prime Minister, whilst the individual who normally holds the position is unable to do so. The role is often performed by the Deputy Prime Minister (where that position exists), or by another senior Minister. The office is commonly used when the Prime Minister is absent from the territory of that nation, when the Prime Minister is in ill health or, on maternity leave. An acting Prime Minister should be distinguished from a caretaker Prime Minister, which refers