MPs drop down United Future party list

United Future has shuffled MPs Bernie Ogilvy and Paul Adams down its party list for the general election.

Party vice-president Denise Krum said, "This has been a tremendous first term from our caucus of eight MPs", but first-term MPs Mr Ogilvy and Mr Adams were demoted to Nos 9 and 10 on a list of 53 headed by leader Peter Dunne.

Paul Check and Janet Tuck were slotted in above them, at Nos 7 and 8 respectively, with the top six places all allocated to current MPs.

On current polling the demotion of Mr Ogilvy and Mr Adams, best known as a rally car driver, might not matter, as United Future may struggle to win more than three seats.

It has been polling below 3 per cent in party vote support, its survival in Parliament dependent on Mr Dunne keeping Ohariu-Belmont.

United Future seems unlikely to repeat its spectacular effort in the 2002 election, when television appearances by Mr Dunne helped the centrist "commonsense" party win eight seats.

Ms Krum was upbeat, saying United Future believed it had the right people to increase its number of seats "and make an even greater impact for good in the future".

"The New Zealand Parliament needs, more than ever, a strong, balanced, centrist party like United Future," she said. "We're looking forward to a dynamic campaign."

1 DUNNE, Peter

2 TURNER, Judy

3 COPELAND, Gordon

4 ALEXANDER, Marc

5 BALDOCK, Larry

6 SMITH, Murray

7 CHECK, Paul

8 TUCK, Janet

9 OGILVY, Bernie

10 REEVES, Graeme

11 JUDD, Russell

12 BARAL, Hannah

13 LIETZE, Joy

14 WILSON, Neville

15 BARTER, Richard

16 TAYLOR, Steve

17 McINNES, Ian

18 TIZARD, Ross

19 McKENZIE, Fiona

20 BARR, Graeme

21 WALKER, John L

22 PARKASH, Ram

23 KENNARD, Ralph

24 PRASAD, Jayati

25 ROBERTS, Vanessa

26 TELFORD, Gerald

27 LOOMES, Robin

28 JACKSON, Robyn

29 GORDON, Tony

30 GRAYDON, Greg

31 SEDDON, Martyn

32 McCLELLAND, Bernard

33 STONE, Beth

34 WESTLEY, Robin

35 DRAKE, Anne

36 HINTON, Noel

37 SATUR, Michael

38 BROWN, Diane

39 DROMGOOL, Steven

40 DEETH, Andrea

41 PETERS, Mark

42 MOFFAT, Pauline

43 WELLS, Dennis

44 OSBORNE, Milton

45 PEDERSEN, Garry

46 PICKERING, John

47 ARCHER, Adam

48 LINSCOTT, Neil

49 HAYES, Barry

50 STUART, Janita

51 WILSON, Dianne

52 RUDD, James

53 MOUNTAIN, Peter

54 ROBERTSON, Lee

55 van BUREN, John

56 LEIGH, Jeff

57 COLLIER, Matt

- NZPA