Samuels joined the Labour Party and became its Māori Senior Vice President. In 1994 he challenged Maryan Street for the Labour Party presidency, but lost by a wide margin, 303 votes to Street and 75 for Samuels.[1]
He first entered Parliament as a list MP in the 1996 election, and was the MP for Te Tai Tokerau since the 1999 election. When the Labour Party formed a government following its victory in 1999, Samuels became the Minister of Māori Affairs, but resigned this role in June 2000 pending an investigation into alleged sex crimes committed before he entered politics.[3] The police later cleared Samuels of all charges, and Samuels alleged that the accusations had political motivations. He was reinstated as a Minister of State in 2002, but in 2005 was involved in further controversy following a late-night incident in which he publicly urinated in a hallway within Auckland's Heritage hotel.
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Samuels lost his Māori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau in 2005 to the Māori Party candidate Hone Harawira. However, he was returned to parliament due to his high position on the Labour Party list. He was made the Associate Minister for Economic Development, Housing, Tourism and Industry and Regional Development.
On 31 October 2007, during the Cabinet reshuffle, Samuels lost his position as a Minister outside Cabinet and was replaced by Darren Hughes. He returned to the backbench.
