Samuel Julian Uffindell (born September 1983) is a New Zealand politician and former international banking executive. He has been a Member of Parliament for , representing the National Party, since winning a by-election in June 2022. He is best-known for a controversy shortly after his election.
Uffindell was expelled from a high school for participating in a violent attack on a younger student. This attack was made public in 2022, after his election to Parliament. After this, and another accusation about Uffindell's behaviour while at university, the party temporarily stood him down from its caucus. The party commissioned an independent investigation; while it was not made public, the party concluded that the allegations from his university time were not as publicly reported and reinstated him to the caucus.
Early life
Uffindell was born in Auckland in September 1983. His father was a computer company entrepreneur (UCC, a Dell reseller) and his mother was later an English lecturer.
He attended King's College, but at age sixteen was expelled after participating in a violent attack on a younger student. The victim, who was 13, suffered severe bruising and trauma. Police were not involved. After the matter came to light in 2022, Uffindell said he could not recall if he and the other attackers used wooden bed legs as a weapon, but could not rule it out. He later acknowledged the attack, saying he was “a thug”.
Uffindell finished his schooling at St Paul's Collegiate School in Hamilton. At this school, he was suspended for three days for leaving the property without permission.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Studies and a Bachelor of Commerce in Management at the University of Otago. While at university, he and his flatmates competed in an online competition for Dunedin's filthiest flat, and city health inspectors visited three times. After university, he worked in banking for ten years in Sydney and in Singapore, including working in financial crime at Westpac and becoming a vice president at Deutsche Bank. He gained a Master of International Law and International Relations from the University of New South Wales. Uffindell returned to New Zealand in 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic. As of early 2022 he was the head of financial economic crime for Rabobank New Zealand, and was a partner in his wife's fertiliser supply business.
Political career
Election to parliament
Uffindell has been a member of the National Party since 2008. In 2021, he became the Papamoa Branch chair and the Bay of Plenty deputy electorate chair of the party. He put his name forward for the National candidacy in the 2022 Tauranga by-election following the resignation of Simon Bridges in March 2022, and was officially announced as their candidate on 1 May. Uffindell was a clear favourite for the election; Labour had not won the Tauranga electorate seat since 1935 and New Zealand First, the only party other than National to hold Tauranga since then, not standing a candidate. Uffindell's opponents in the by-election included sitting Labour List MP and cabinet minister Jan Tinetti and ACT New Zealand candidate Cameron Luxton.
The 2022 by-election gave Uffindell an outright majority of 56%. He received 11,613 votes to Tinetti's 5,259 and Luxton's 2,133. He was sworn in on 2 August 2022 and gave his maiden speech that day.
Political positions
After the by-election, Uffindell announced that improving Tauranga's roads and tackling gang crime in the city would be his top priorities in parliament. He also announced that he planned to lodge a member's bill which would make participation in gang convoys a finable offence.
Before entering parliament, Uffindell promoted organic fertiliser as a useful offset for the adverse effects of climate change, and as a way for farmers to respond to levies or caps on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.
A few months after he entered parliament, Uffindell was appointed by the National Party as its associate spokesperson for research, science, and innovation, and associate for economic and regional development.