He was educated at the Marist Brothers High School in Invercargill and was a South Island softball representative and also active competitor in both rugby and athletics.
They commonly disagreed on the choice of candidates and Kirk blocked Wybrow from attaining the Labour nomination for Rotorua ahead of the 1972 election.
However, party president Charles Bennett dissuaded him, saying that Labour couldn't afford to have both a new leader and new secretary start in the same year.
[7] Wybrow was the heavy favourite to win the nomination, so much so that he withdrew his place as a candidate on the Labour ticket for the Wellington City Council at the 1974 local elections.
[10] Wybrow stood unsuccessfully for the Miramar electorate in the 1975 election, losing to the incumbent National MP Bill Young by 1,749 votes.
[11] He was the subject of criticism for running in a local electorate race while at the same time having the responsibility of overseeing Labour's nationwide campaign.
He retired from the role of party secretary in 1985 when he was appointed High Commissioner to Canada by the Fourth Labour Government.