‘I know I’m right, I never doubt the fact.’
Heads turn at the Thistle Inn, Wellington’s oldest pub, when Paul Henry walks into the bar. It doesn’t bother the Act Party candidate, who’s spent just about his entire adult life being the kind of person others notice. My generation of New Zealanders hasn’t known a time when Henry wasn’t on the television.
The self-described “loner” has spent the last few years in a “semi-retirement” split between Auckland and Palm Springs, California, where he owns a home. He was “getting a lot of satisfaction out of being on the TVNZ board”, had hosted a few reality television spinoffs and launched his own gin brand, The Henry (actually, his drink of choice is a pinot noir). Now, Henry spends his time on the road, travelling the country and spreading the good word of the Act Party. He has the zeal of a Mormon missionary, one spreading the message that Seymour saves.
Henry reckons his political beliefs haven’t changed since he first ran for parliament as a National Party candidate in 1999, losing the race for the Wairarapa electorate to Labour’s Georgina Beyer. He’s a list-only candidate, and all eyes will be on where Henry ranks when the party’s 2026 list is revealed on Sunday. A top five ranking seems a safe bet: Henry may be an unpredictable character, but he’s also incapable of uncertainty. “The way I’ve run my life, it’s been about knowing certain things are going to happen,” Henry says. “I know I’m going to be in parliament, because I couldn’t do this job properly if I thought [I wasn’t].”
Henry says the only thing about him that’s changed this time around is his reason for running: his grandchildren. The eldest is seven-year-old Reihan, a “bright little spark” who has already been tasked with the important job of blowing up the balloons on election night. He worries how Reihan and his peers will manage with shouldering the nation’s rising debt in their adulthood, and at the same time, wants to foster in the next generation a pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps mentality. Even while growing up in a “horrible, shitty” state housing block in the UK after his parents’ divorce at age 11 (he moved with his mother to Bristol), Henry says he always believed it possible to hustle a way out of struggle.
It seems Henry has spent a lot of time over the last few years thinking about life cycles. He becomes most animated when recommending ‘Other Minds’, a book by scientist Peter Godfrey-Smith on the intelligence and consciousness of cephalopods (you know, squids and octopuses and the like). There’s a minister for the South Island, so why not have a minister for cephalopods and figure out “who the fuck they’re talking to” in the depths of the ocean? Obviously, Act is the party of smaller government, but it could probably make space for a new ministry by getting rid of defence, Henry suggests.
Other than cephalopods, there are no more niche policies Henry’s keen to work on. The off-the-cuff pitch for a “world-class cancer hospital” as a candidate is now party policy, and Henry is intent on spending two terms – no more, no fewer – in parliament to see these proposed hospitals in Auckland and Christchurch to fruition.
He brings that trademark spitballing to this interview. An off-hand comment about the Greens sets Henry off on his reckons that the party should stop trying to be socialist politicians and focus on environmental activism. A dip into the spiritual side of things – Henry is a man of science, but he can’t deny that he truly is a Leo – leads him to assess me as being one of those woo-woo types. “I know you are: look at your hair,” Henry says, pointing to my braided pigtails. Hang on, what’s wrong with my hair? Is it giving hippie, I ask? “Shit yeah,” Henry replies.
Did he come out of the womb like this: immediately confident, never lacking the courage of his convictions? Well, it’s probably a symptom of being a TV man, Henry reckons. “I’ve quite often not cared enough to bother to think, ‘What should I say?'” Henry explains. Will he bring that same kind of cheeky authenticity to the debating chamber? “I’ll maybe not necessarily tone it down, but I’ll be slightly aware of the environment.”
There’s barely a breath, or a shadow of self-doubt, when Henry wraps up our interview with a wide smile, a handshake and his utmost gratitude: “Thanks for voting Act.”
THE SPINOFF PUB Q+A
How much should a pint cost?
$12.
Do you have a karaoke go-to?
You know, I’m not a fan of karaoke. Not only have I never done it, but I’ve never really watched it being done. I mean, in what way is it better than listening to a record? OK, If I was 10 [drinks] deep: ‘Jolene’. No [I wasn’t crushed by Dolly Parton’s death], because she was old enough to die.
Favourite place to get a drink in Aotearoa?
The Black Dog Tavern, which is 20 minutes outside of Dannevirke. My second favourite place to drink is The Black Cat, which is in Seligman in Arizona on Route 66. There are some similarities, and there are some differences; Seligman is more expensive to get to. But I tell you what, there was something about the vibe of the Black Dog as I walked in [last week], and honestly it’s fabulous partly because it reminded me of the Black Cat. The Black Cat’s much more dangerous, but, cats; that’s just how they are. That’s their vibe.
Which three candidates would be on your pub quiz team?
David Seymour, because he’s a nerd. Paul Goldsmith, because he’s a nerd. Chlöe Swarbrick, because she will know the answers to the questions that none of the rest of us would give a shit about.
Which MP from across the aisle would you most like to share a drink with?
I don’t mind drinking on my own. You know, Kieran McAnulty is someone I think would be pretty familiar with leaning on a bar and collecting drinks. I reckon Kieran McAnulty is the kind of guy that I could have a drink with and say, “Fuck, what do you think of Labour?” And he’d laugh like a train.
Is there an alcohol-related law you would like to change?
The nine o’clock curfew in Christchurch and Auckland. What is up with that? It’s relatively new, and there are unintended consequences. The supermarkets are now closing at nine, not just because “oh, we can’t sell alcohol” but because “we can’t be bothered telling people why they can’t buy alcohol. We don’t want to put our staff through that, so let’s just close”.
You know what, that is appalling social engineering. It’s completely unnecessary, and you know what it does? It harms – it criminalises, in a sense – people whose lives are perfectly fine. They’re perfectly capable of going out and buying alcohol. What are we saying? We stop [selling] at 9pm, so problem drinking will stop at 9pm? For God’s sake, how bloody stupid.
What’s a policy area we’ve been nursing without finishing the glass?
We’re talking infrastructure projects when we talk about things like that, and because of my particular interest, I’m going to say health. It’s not good enough that we just replace the machine because it’s broken, or we get new syringes in because they’re slightly better. It’s unacceptable to me that people die in New Zealand just because they live in New Zealand.
You know, it goes beyond just health, because one of the reasons that we’re like this is because we’re broke. We’ve got to fix the economy, and to do that we have to fix the government and get out of people’s ways.
What qualities make a good drinking partner?
Just humour. Although, I don’t know that I would make a good drinking partner; I’m a bit of loner. A drinking partner for me needs to keep an eye on how many [drinks] I drink. So, a supervisor with humour.
Have you ever had a Schnapps election moment where you regretted your political instinct?
I’m gonna say no. I’m very consistent in my political views; I know I’m right, I never doubt the fact. I say to people at my meetings, I’ve done the due diligence. You know, I haven’t always voted Act – well, it hasn’t always been around in my lifetime – but there’s never been a time when I’ve come away from a polling booth and thought, “I made the wrong judgement.”
Up next on One Candidate, One Pint: Opportunity’s Wellington North candidate Jessica Hammond. Read more One Candidate, One Pint interviews here.
