  kenneth lex shirley (born 12 august 1950), generally called ken shirley, was a new zealand politician. he was a member of the act new zealand party, although was previously a member and cabinet minister of the labour party. ==member of parliament==         shirley first entered parliament in the 1984 elections, when he stood as the labour party candidate in the tasman electorate. at the time, there was considerable tension in the labour party over the policies of the minister of finance, roger douglas &mdash; the policies were based around economic deregulation and free trade, and traditionalists saw them as a betrayal of the party's left-wing roots. shirley aligned himself with the faction that supported douglas. shirley was not a member of the faction's so-called "troika" (consisting of douglas, richard prebble, and david caygill), but was nevertheless a notable supporter of the reforms douglas promoted. ===cabinet minister=== eventually, the prime minister, david lange, fired douglas as finance minister and then himself resigned. in the re-arrangement that followed, shirley briefly held cabinet rank as minister of fisheries, associate minister of agriculture, associate minister of forestry, and associate minister of health. he lost these positions when the labour party was defeated in the 1990 elections. shirley himself lost his tasman seat to national's nick smith, leaving him outside parliament. ===act new zealand=== when douglas and his allies created the act new zealand party, shirley was involved. in act's first electoral campaign, the 1996 elections, shirley was ranked in third place on the [[act ne
1950_births ACT_New_Zealand_MPs Living_people Members_of_the_Cabinet_of_New_Zealand Members_of_the_New_Zealand_House_of_Representatives New_Zealand_Labour_Party_MPs New_Zealand_MPs_for_South_Island_electorates New_Zealand_libertarians New_Zealand_list_MPs Unsuccessful_candidates_in_the_New_Zealand_general_election,_1990 Unsuccessful_candidates_in_the_New_Zealand_general_election,_2005