RIP Chester Borrows

The Herald reports:

Former Whanganui MP Chester Borrows has died after he was diagnosed with cancer last year.

Borrows campaigned in two elections before winning the Whanganui seat, which includes South Taranaki, from Labour’s Jill Pettit in 2005.

He held the seat for four terms and was Minister for Courts and Deputy Speaker of the House in the Key Government before retiring in 2017. …

Key said today that he was sad to hear the news.

”Chester was a unique politician – Conviction to the core. He voiced his opinion and supported causes because he knew it was right even if not always popular with his caucus or the party faithful.

“He had the ability to have enduring relations with both sides of the House and will be someone that will be deeply mourned by all political parties.”

His former colleague Paula Bennett said Borrows was a good friend to many politicians.

“Chester was a family man through and through but also a really good friend to so many of us that were in Parliament with him.

“He loved most of all to fight for the marginalised and unfairness. He was good on the karaoke and a genuine good bloke.

“He married my husband and I on the beach in Piha and always stayed in touch and cared about us and our family.”

I’m incredibly saddened by this. 65 is far too young.

I regarded Chester as a mate. I have known him for 25 years. He stood for Parliament three times before being elected on his third go, – which used to be the norm. Too many MPs today expect tp win their seat straight off. Chester lost by 3,000 in 1999, closed it to 2,000 in 2002 despite it being a terrible year for National. He then won it by 2,000 in 2005 and his majority then went to 6,000 or so.

Chester was one of the most decent human beings I knew. That’s not just my opinion, but almost everyone who knew him.

I recall attending a Regional party meeting in the early 2000s with him and Chester arrived late. He apologised and explained he’d come across a car crash, and had helped get people to safety etc. As a young party apparatchik, I got excited by this and said that this will be a great media story – “Candidate helps saves lives of crash victims”. Chester replied that he didn’t even think of mentioning it to the media, and didn’t. In fact he said that his priority was calling 111, to which I retorted “Of course, but you could have called the Whanganui Chronicle second” 🙂

There are not many people I’ll spend six hours in a car driving to and from Whanganui for, but Chester was one of them. He asked me to speak at a party function there a few years ago, and I was happy to oblige.

He will be greatly missed by family, friends, many many colleagues and former constituents.