Storied former National MP Jami-Lee Ross is making a new bid for a political comeback - going back to his roots and trying for local government. 

He will be running for Auckland’s Howick local board in the Flat Bush subdivision in the forthcoming local body elections. 

Ross told the Herald he has the “past experience and skillset to be an effective advocate” for Howick residents, and after a five-year hiatus from politics, he is ready to take a stab at politics again. 

“I spent six years on the Manukau City Council before a decade spent in Parliament. I understand council and government processes well, and I can put those skills to good use working at a local board level.” 

Ross’s ex-wife ran for a seat on the board in 2016 but quit minutes after being sworn in after failing to be elected as chair. 

Ross’s chequered political career 

Ross’s political career has been well-documented in the media, with its start as a local success story before he spectacularly fell from grace and landed in controversy that followed him for the rest of his career. 

He started in politics as a Manukau City Councillor at the age of 18 and was elected as an MP at 25 - making him the youngest MP at the time. 

He then quit the National Party in 2018 - when he was on the verge of being kicked out – after a report concluded he was most likely the leaker of confidential party information. 

Ross has always maintained he did not leak the information and called former leader Simon Bridges a “corrupt politician” and accused him of orchestrating a cover-up of donation fraud. 

Bridges and National denied this, and Ross ended up in court as one of seven defendants in a Serious Fraud Office trial facing charges over two $100,000 donations to National. 

Ross, who argued he had been made a scapegoat, was found not guilty in October 2022 after a seven-week trial. 

Jami-Lee Ross appears in the Auckland District Court in 2021. Photo / Jason Oxenham 

Ross’ time in Parliament was also dogged by allegations of bullying and sexual harassment. 

He attempted a comeback to politics with the Advance NZ Party at the 2020 Election but failed to win enough votes to get into Parliament. 

It was revealed in 2023 that he was running an escort agency called Sapphire Blue in Auckland’s Viaduct that engages more than 20 women. 

At the time, Newsroom reported women were being left alone in apartments in different locations without panic alarms or proper safety protocols and that after assaults by clients, they were not getting follow-up support. Ross has since denied these allegations.