Phil Amos

Phillip Albert Amos, (4 September 1925 – 8 June 2007), was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

Biography
Amos was born in Wanganui, and was an RNZAF pilot in the Pacific in World War II. After the war, he was a teacher.

He was the Member of Parliament for Manurewa from to 1975, when he was defeated.

He was the Minister of Education in the Third Labour Government from 1972 to 1975, and Minister of Island Affairs from 1972 to 1974. As Minister of Education, he drove the integration of Catholic schools, and the reduction of class sizes.

In 1976 while protesting the visit of US cruiser Long Beach in his small yacht the Dolphin he was convicted of obstruction, but won on appeal with the help of then lawyer David Lange.

As a friend of the Tanzanian President Nyerere, he lived in a remote part of Tanzania from 1976 to 1988. Disillusioned with Rogernomics, he joined and was president of the NewLabour Party after his return to Auckland. He was a Swahili interpreter/translator.

In the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours, Amos was made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.

He was married to Jill Turner and then to Odilia. He died in Auckland in 2007.