Warren Cooper

Infobox Officeholder


name =Hon. Warren Cooper
caption = Warren Cooper as Minister of Foreign Affairs, during a meeting with Caspar Weinberger at the Pentagon in 1983
imagesize =
birth_date=Birth date and age|1933|2|21|df=yes
party = National
order =31st Minister of Defence
term_start =2 November 1990
term_end =1 March 1996
primeminister =Jim Bolger
successor= Mark Burton
predecessor= Peter Tapsell

Warren Cooper QSO (Born 21 February 1933) is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1975 to 1996, representing the National Party. He has also served as Mayor of Queenstown.

Cooper was born in Dunedin, but later moved to Queenstown. He worked as a retailer, a signwriting contractor, and a motel manager, and also became involved in local politics. He was first elected to Parliament in the 1975 elections as MP for Otago, defeating the newly elected Ian Quigley of the Labour Party. In 1978, he was appointed to his first ministerial roles, most notably Minister of Tourism. When Brian Talboys retired from Parliament in 1981, Cooper was appointed to replace him as Minister of Foreign Affairs — he held this position until the government of Robert Muldoon was defeated in 1984. Later, in the government of Jim Bolger, Cooper served as Minister of Defence. Cooper remained in Parliament until the 1996 elections, when he stepped aside in favour of Gavan Herlihy.