National MP Hamish Campbell once burned off his eyebrows while learning to breathe fire.

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Along with a beer in his hand at the pub, the National Party’s first-term Ilam MP Hamish Campbell has a few tricks up his sleeve. Firstly, his Campbell-branded yo-yo, which sets his headshot spinning in motion once the string is unleashed. Secondly, an odd assortment of circus tricks, all self-taught, such as riding a unicycle, breathing fire and juggling knives.

What need should a politician have for hidden circus talents, you ask? Apart than the obvious (members of parliament being clowns or whatever, haha got ’em), the native Cantabrian grew up watching street performances across Christchurch, when the World Buskers Festival would come to town around January/February. “I ended up making a unicycle – kind of a modified push bike – then learned to juggle, then it snowballed,” Campbell says. Being no natural songbird, learning to spout fire from his mouth and losing his eyebrows as a result seemed a lot easier than trying to sing.

In case you haven’t got the memo by now, Christchurch can be a pretty colourful city. And these days, supposedly, it’s one of the coolest places to be in Aotearoa. Though he’s “paid to be biased”, Campbell agrees: “Christchurch has gone through a rough period, but we’ve been rebuilt. Every cloud has a silver lining.”

“We have the convention centre, a new Court Theatre, a pretty amazing central library,” he says. “We’re also seeing the highest level of domestic migration in Christchurch, the university is going absolutely gangbusters. There’s world-leading technology, we also have a huge gaming industry, and the art scene is really fun. So, yeah, it’s a cool place to be.”

Being an electorate MP is a “game of two halves”, Campbell reckons. You have your duties to your constituents, making sure the “Christchurch voice is around the table”, and working with locals to “build that faith back into the [political] system, and building the bridge through the cracks”. Then there are the duties within parliament, like sitting in the House or, in Campbell’s case, holding the title of deputy chair of the health select committee.

The latter is where Campbell’s experiences from his past life (no, not the fire breathing one) come into play. Pre-politics, Campbell was a cancer research scientist with a PhD from Otago University, and once worked as the deputy head of research for MS [multiple sclerosis] Australia. In his spare time, Campbell still helps run the family apple orchard and floristry businesses – with the latter, he’s pretty proud to have adopted a sustainable business model focused on zero-plastic, degradable resources and locally sourced, seasonal flowers.

So, to recap it all, Campbell is a scientist-turned-politician who also knows how to juggle knives, breathe fire and ride a unicycle (probably not simultaneously), and somehow has time to run a few family businesses in the background. He’s in parliament, but more importantly, Campbell was once on Country Calendar (thanks to his floristry business). Who else can say that about themselves? “I’ve had a great career,” he grins. “It’s been a huge privilege.”

THE SPINOFF PUB Q+A

How much should a pint cost?

Well, that’s a hard one. You want the publican or the bar owner to be able to cover the costs and take a little bit [for themselves]. So, 10 bucks?

Do you have a karaoke go-to?

I’m about as musical as a goldfish. It’ll be any song that’s not too dynamic, something like ‘Sweet Caroline’ or your ‘Country Road’.  You’re going for the classics, and hoping that everyone else knows the words and joins in.

Favourite place to get a drink in Aotearoa?

On the [family] orchard, but we actually have some really neat spots in the Ilam electorate. There’s the Elmwood Trading Co, which is your local pub with a really nice outdoor drinking area. Then there’s the Mayor of Ale, which opens up into a nice outdoor area in the summertime. And then the other one is The Foundry at the University, with a drinking area that overlooks the Avon River.

Which three MPs would be on your pub quiz team?

I think I’d go with Chris Bishop to cover sport, Judith Collins for general knowledge, and probably Tom Rutherford as the millennial to cover off the young people categories.

Which MP from across the aisle would you most like to share a drink with?

I’m going to say Winston Peters. Sure, he’s not technically on the other side of the aisle, but he’s that witty individual with huge experience that you want to have a drink with.

Is there an alcohol-related law you would like to change?

Alcohol is an interesting one; it’s not the healthiest thing, but it’s a part of our cultural fabric. If anything, [I’d like] a minimum price for a standard drink, because social drinking is fine, but we don’t want harmful drinking. I suppose, [we could] make sure that we don’t have that kind of cheap alcohol that people might go completely nuts on.

Places like Scotland and Wales have put a bit of a floor [on alcohol pricing] so that you don’t necessarily get this [harmful drinking]. You also want people to get out and it’s good for the economy, and that’s where Christchurch is going to do really well in terms of going to an event, and going into town – it creates that environment of social drinking rather than harmful drinking.

What’s a policy area we’ve been nursing without finishing the glass?

There’s probably hundreds; I had a whole range of ideas right from marine protection to employment law right through to everything in between when I started. In this environment, there’s so many things firing off … Some have been taken up by the government, some they’re working on, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

There’s a lot of policy areas that I’m interested in, from the environment right through to health – how do we have more preventative [care]? How do we keep our people well? Those are the sorts of things that I’m always thinking about. 

What qualities make a good drinking partner?

Someone with good yarns and good war stories.

Have you ever had a Schnapps election moment where you regretted your political instinct?

During the campaign, I knocked on the doors of about 16,500 people. But I discovered that that kind of freaks people out if they come to me later and I [remember them and] go, “oh, you live in the brick house just around the corner!” I’ve kind of learned to dial that back.