Key quits as NZ PM at height of popularity
Print Edition
POPULAR New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced his shock resignation yesterday, saying he was never a career politician and it was the right time to go after eight years in the job.
The former Merrill Lynch currency trader called it “the hardest decision I’ve ever made,” with no plans on what to do next other than spend more time with his family.
“Being leader of both the party and the country has been an incredible experience,” he told a weekly news conference. “But despite the amazing career I have had in politics, I have never seen myself as a career politician.”
Key recently marked his eighth anniversary as prime minister and 10th year as leader of the center-right National Party, which is set to meet next week to elect his successor.
His deputy Bill English, who led the party to its worst result in the 2002 election, is widely seen as favorite to take over and was endorsed by Key, although he did not immediately confirm he wanted the role.
As discussion about Key’s decision to walk away swirled around social media, the down-to-earth politician — once voted the leader most New Zealanders would love to have a beer with — insisted he was “not the kind of guy that has to hang on to power for power’s sake.”
Opinion polls had consistently pointed to him becoming the first leader in New Zealand history to win four consecutive elections when the country votes next year, but he said records were not a consideration. “If you’re staying for the record of the time you’re staying for the wrong reason,” he said.
Key, 55, came into politics relatively late, entering parliament in 2002 and assuming charge of the National Party four years later.
By 2008 he had ended nine years of Labour Party rule, ousting then-prime minister Helen Clark. He won plaudits for his leadership during a string of crises in his first term, including a devastating earthquake in Christchurch in February 2011 which claimed 185 lives.
Key also steadied the economy after the global financial crisis without resorting to hard-line spending cuts, instead taking a pragmatic approach that saw the budget return to surplus in the 2015-16 financial year for the first time since 2008.
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