Party member John A. Lee. 1940s 1941 – The 'Nathan Incident': a scandal developed revolving around Hubert Nathan, a Citizens' Association candidate for the Wellington Harbour Board who was critical of the number of union secretaries on the Labour ticket for the 1941 civic elections. Nathan alleged that 5 unionists used "Gestapo tactics" to try and blackmail him into withdrawing his nomination and accusing them of Antisemitism. The press ran articles on the alleged confrontation (which was refuted by Labour) and as a result no Labour candidates were elected to any of the three local authorities in Wellington until 1950. 1942 – Bert Kyle resigned from the National Party at the climax of a personality feud with leader Sidney Holland. Kyle publicly accused Holland of blackmailing him into becoming a "yes man" or be expelled from the party. Kyle remained an independent MP and retired at the 1943 election. 1950s 1956 – In February 1956, Prime Minister Sidney Holland announced that Dean Eyre, the Minister of Industries and Commerce and Minister of Customs, had been granted six weeks leave in order to attend to private business in Sweden. The Leader of the Opposition, Walter Nash, was critical of the decision. Nash questioned the appropriateness of a minister of the crown conducting his private business abroad. Holland was quick to dismiss any suggestion of impropriety, but was soon to swallow his words. Both The Evening Post and The Dominion (Wellington papers who normally wrote editorials slanted in favour of National) also went on the attack in editorials, urging Holland to reconsider. A surprised Holland reacted quickly and Eyre was forced to cancel his trip, and was stripped of his portfolios and given to Eric Halstead. To ease the situation, Eyre was allocated Halstead's portfolios of Social Security and Tourism instead. 1959 – Truth (NZ) Ltd v Holloway: In March 1959 the tabloid newspaper New Zealand Truth quoted Warren Freer, MP for , as having stated "See Phil, and Phil will fix it" to Henry Judd, an émigré importer, insinuating Phil Holloway the Minister of Industries and Commerce (who was in charge of import controls) could grant Judd an ease-of-passage remedy for controlled imports. The allegation evolved into a libel case in which Holloway was eventually awarded in damages and a further in costs. 1960s 1966 – The Mason Affair: New Labour Party leader Norman Kirk, wishing to rejuvenate the party, puts