Butcher was born in Brighton, England, on 19 September 1948, the son of Dorothy May Butcher (née Guppy) and Frank George Butcher.[1] The family migrated to New Zealand in 1963, and he attended Karamu High School in Hastings with broadcaster Paul Holmes, and Victoria University of Wellington.[2] While at Victoria, he was president of the Victoria University Labour Club.[3] He graduated with an economics degree and became a member of the New Zealand Association of Economists.[4] From 1972 to 1974, he worked as an economist in the Labour Department, Wellington. During 1974–75 he travelled overseas in Asia and Europe. From 1976 until 1978, he was a field officer for the Wellington Clerical Workers' Union and the New Zealand Labourers' Union in Hawke's Bay. He was a member of the Hawkes Bay Trade Council and its nominee on the council of the Hawkes Bay Community College.[5]
Butcher became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1975,[6] and in 1980, Butcher married Mary Georgina Hall.[1]
Butcher stood unsuccessfully for the seat of Hawkes Bay three times, in the 1969 election, 1972 election and 1975 election, before becoming an MP for the seat of Hastings in the 1978 election.[7] Prior to entering parliament he was a member of the New Zealand Council of Labour Party.[4] In 1983 he was appointed as Labour's spokesperson for State Insurance and the Government Life Office by Labour leader David Lange.[8] In 1986 he represented the New Zealand government at an agricultural ministers conference in Hobart.[5]
During the Fourth Labour Government, Butcher served as a Cabinet minister, with posts including Minister of Commerce, Minister of Energy, Minister of Trade and Industry and Postmaster-General. As Minister of Energy, Butcher had responsibility for ensuring that privatised utilities operated in a competitive environment, or were subjected to appropriate regulation. He was also associate Minister of Finance and mostly a supporter of the Rogernomics agenda of finance minister Roger Douglas.[9] As Minister of Energy he sold the government-owned Petrocorp for $801 million to Rossport Investments Ltd on 31 March 1988.[10]
He represented the Hastings electorate in Parliament until 1990, when he was defeated by National's Jeff Whittaker, one of a number of losses contributing to the fall of the Fourth Labour Government. His defeat was not expected with most expecting him to be re-elected with a reduced majority.[11]
Since 1990, Butcher has been the manager of David Butcher and Associates (DBA), and has worked on assignments in several countries.[12] He worked in a business consultancy deal with the Asian Development Bank.[13] In 2000, he was fined $10,000 plus reparations, for fraudulently claiming expenses on airline tickets under a travel rebate scheme for former MPs.[14][15]
^Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. pp. 240–1. ISBN0-475-11200-8.
^"Labour leader allocates responsibilities". The Press. 17 March 1983. p. 3.
