John Key

The Right Honourable Sir John Key GNZM AC
Key in February 2015
38th Prime Minister of New Zealand
In office 19 November 2008 – 12 December 2016
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Bill English
Governor-General	Anand Satyanand Jerry Mateparae Patsy Reddy
Preceded by	Helen Clark
Succeeded by	Bill English
31st Leader of the Opposition
In office 27 November 2006 – 19 November 2008
Deputy	Bill English
Preceded by	Don Brash
Succeeded by	Phil Goff
11th Leader of the National Party
In office 27 November 2006 – 12 December 2016
Deputy	Bill English
Preceded by	Don Brash
Succeeded by	Bill English
3rd Chairman of the International Democracy Union
In office 21 November 2014 – 21 February 2018
Deputy	Tony Clement
Preceded by	John Howard
Succeeded by	Stephen Harper
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Helensville
In office 27 July 2002 – 14 April 2017
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Chris Penk
Majority	20,547 (56.49%)[1]
Personal details
Born	(1961-08-09) 9 August 1961 (age 63) Auckland, New Zealand
Political party	National
Spouse(s)	Bronagh Dougan ​ (m. 1984)​
Children	2
Parents	George Key (Father) Ruth Lazar (Mother)
Alma mater	University of Canterbury (BCom)
Occupation	Politician, Diplomat
Signature
Website	Official website

Sir John Phillip Key GNZM AC (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.^[2]

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.^[3][4] Bill English won the leadership election and succeeded Key on 12 December.^[5] Key was very popular when he left office.

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.^[6]

He attended Burnside High School, and earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in accounting from the University of Canterbury in 1981.^[7] He has attended management studies courses at Harvard University, although he did not receive a degree from this institution.^[8][9]

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.^[10]

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.^[7][11] 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.^[10][11] He was a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from 1999 to 2001.^[9]

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.^[12]