John Key

**Sir John Phillip Key**  (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician and diplomat who was the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand and was the 11th Leader of the New Zealand National Party. He entered the New Zealand Parliament in 2002 representing the north-west Auckland area of Helensville as a National MP, a seat that he still holds. In 2006 he succeeded Don Brash as the National Party leader in 2006. Key led his party to victory in the 2008 New Zealand general election.

In March 2016, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, approved the appointment of Dame Patsy Reddy as the next Governor-General of New Zealand, for a five-year term starting in September 2016, on the advice of John Key.

In December 2016, Key has announced his resignation as prime minister and leader of the National Party. He also instructed the party to put into motion the processes to elect a new leader. He expressed interest in spending more time with his family, stating that he had "never seen [himself] as a career politician" and that "this feels the right time to go". Media reports described the decision as unexpected, and noted the popularity of Key and his party. Bill English won the leadership election and succeeded Key on 12 December. Key was very popular when he left office.

## Personal Life

Key was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to George Key and Ruth Key. His father, who was from the UK, died of a heart attack in 1967. Key and his two sisters were raised in a state house in Christchurch by his Jewish mother.

He attended Burnside High School, and earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in accounting from the University of Canterbury in 1981. He has attended management studies courses at Harvard University, although he did not receive a degree from this institution.

Key met his wife Bronagh when they were both students at Burnside High School. They married in 1984. They have two children, Stephie and Max.

## Before politics

In 1995, he joined Merrill Lynch as head of Asian foreign exchange in Singapore. That same year he was promoted to Merrill's global head of foreign exchange, based in London, where he may have earned around US$2.25 million a year including bonuses, which is about NZ$5 million at 2001 exchange rates. Some co-workers called him "the smiling assassin" for maintaining his usual cheerfulness while sacking dozens (some say hundreds) of staff after heavy losses from the 1998 Russian financial crisis. He was a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from 1999 to 2001.

|width=15%|**Parl.**|width=35%|**Electorate**|width=20%|**List Pos.**|width=30%|**Party**|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|47th|Helensville|43|National|||||
|48th|Helensville|7|National|||||
|49th|Helensville|1|National|||||

### Prime Minister (2008-2016)

Key became Prime Minister following the general election on 8 November 2008 which ended  the Labour-led government of nine years under Helen Clark. The National Party, promoting a policy of "change", won 45% of the party vote and 59 of the 122 seats in Parliament, a big margin over the Labour Party which won 43 seats.

Key was sworn in as Prime Minister on 19 November 2008 along with his new cabinet. His first international outing as Prime Minister was the 20th APEC meeting in Peru the following day.

Key announced he will step down from the role of Prime Minister and leader of the National Party effective 12 December 2016.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific-prefix**: The Right Honourable Sir
- **name**: John Key
- **image**: John Key February 2015.jpg
- **alt**: Head and shoulders of John Key in a dark suit and pale blue spotted tie
- **caption**: Key in February 2015
- **office**: 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand
- **monarch**: Elizabeth II
- **deputy**: Bill English
- **term start**: 19 November 2008
- **term end**: 12 December 2016
- **predecessor**: Helen Clark
- **successor**: Bill English
- **office1**: 31st Leader of the Opposition (New Zealand), Leader of the Opposition
- **deputy1**: Bill English
- **term start1**: 27 November 2006
- **term end1**: 19 November 2008
- **predecessor1**: Don Brash
- **successor1**: Phil Goff
- **office2**: 11th Leader of the New Zealand National Party, Leader of the National Party
- **deputy2**: Bill English
- **term start2**: 2006 New Zealand national party leadership election, 27 November 2006
- **term end2**: 12 December 2016
- **predecessor2**: Don Brash
- **successor2**: Bill English
- **office3**: 3rd International Democrat Union#Chairmen, Chairman of the International Democracy Union
- **deputy3**: Tony Clement
- **term start3**: 21 November 2014
- **term end3**: 21 February 2018
- **predecessor3**: John Howard
- **successor3**: Stephen Harper
- **constituency mp4**: Helensville (New Zealand electorate), Helensville
- **parliament4**: New Zealand
- **term start4**: 2002 New Zealand general election ,  27 July 2002
- **term end4**: 14 April 2017
- **predecessor4**: _Constituency established_
- **successor4**: Chris Penk
- **majority4**: 20,547 (56.49%)
- **birth place**: Auckland, New Zealand
- **party**: New Zealand National Party, National
- **children**: 2
- **alma mater**: University of Canterbury (Bachelor of Commerce, BCom)
- **occupation**: Politician, Diplomat
- **signature**: John Key sig.svg