I do not believe in fighting other people's wars for them. I know it is hard to spend money on an army when people are going without, but New Zealand cannot afford to become defenceless." He blamed his ill-health in later life on the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam. In 1959, Braybrooke married Janice Cater, and the couple went on to have two children. He represented the New Zealand Army in both soccer and basketball and was later an official with the New Zealand Amateur Athletics Association. After leaving the army, he became a sales manager for a pharmaceutical research company until 1980. Member of Parliament Braybrooke had joined the British Labour Party when only fourteen years old, and when he moved to New Zealand, he became a supporter of the New Zealand Labour Party. In the 1969 elections, he managed Mick Connelly's campaign in the Wigram seat. He then unsuccessfully contested the seats of Franklin, Pakuranga, and Papakura in the 1972 elections, 1975 elections, and the 1978 elections, respectively. He also made an abortive attempt to become Labour's candidate for the 1977 Mangere by-election. In the 1981 elections, he was finally elected MP for Napier. Upon entering Parliament he stated his support for the armed forces, opposition to abortion and his desire for the Labour Party to return to what it stood for under previous leader Norman Kirk (whom he admired greatly). In 1983 he was appointed as Labour's spokesperson for War Pensions and Rehabilitation by Labour leader David Lange. During the controversial Fourth Labour Government Braybrooke was chairman of the communications and road safety select committee. After the defeat of the government in 1990 he was appointed Shadow Minister of Transport and Disabilities by leader Mike Moore. He supported Moore when he was successfully challenged by Helen Clark after Labour narrowly lost the 1993 election. Subsequently he was appointed Shadow Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs by Clark. Braybrooke was one of the more socially conservative members of the Labour Party and was at times he was offside with liberal-minded colleagues. According to Braybrooke his affiliation with Labour was attributed to his working class background stating in 1982 "My background was as poor as a church mouse's. I know what it is like to labour away and be broke at the end of the week and have to go without." In 1985, when his fellow Labour MP