John Key

Before entering politics, John Key worked in foreign exchange trading, including as a trader at an investment bank.⁠[1][2]

In 2006, Key became leader of the centre-right New Zealand National Party, which he went on to lead for ten years.⁠[3][4]

In New Zealand’s general election on November 8, 2008, Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark, in power for nine years, conceded defeat, and the National Party under Key won; Key became New Zealand’s 38th prime minister, forming the country’s first conservative government in almost a decade, though it had to rely on small parties for a majority in the 122-seat parliament. Key campaigned on a platform of change and blamed the Labour government for letting the economy fall into recession even before the global financial crisis; after the win, he told supporters that New Zealanders had voted in their hundreds of thousands for change, and warned of tough times ahead because of the global economic downturn.⁠[1][1][1][1][1][1]

On December 5, 2011, the National Party signed confidence and supply agreements with United Future and ACT at Parliament, giving the Key-led government 62 votes in Parliament; the agreements included a cap on core government spending and legislation stating that no more than 49% of a state asset could be sold. Key likened such agreements to “marriage vows,” describing them as only the starting point for the next three years of work.⁠[5][5][5][5]

In the general election on September 20, 2014, the National Party returned to power for a third consecutive term after a campaign marked by scandal allegations, winning 48% of the party vote and 61 of 121 seats in the provisional count; the Internet-Mana alliance, funded by Kim Dotcom, failed to win any seats. Key said National would continue to provide strong and stable government and would seek a broader majority with the Māori Party, ACT, and United Future.⁠[6][6][6][6][6][6]

On November 21, 2014, Key was unanimously elected chair of the International Democrat Union, a global organization of centre-right political parties, succeeding former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who had held the role for 12 years; the union represents more than 50 parties, and the National Party was a founding member in 1983.⁠[7][7][7][7]

In November 2016, during the APEC meetings in Lima, Peru, Key responded to U.S. President-elect Trump’s threat to abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by half-jokingly proposing “cosmetic changes” to the agreement, such as renaming it the “Trump Pacific Partnership,” to keep the United States on board; he also said that if the United States backed away from free trade, China would fill the void.⁠[8][8][8]

On December 5, 2016, Key announced in Wellington that he was resigning as National Party leader and Prime Minister, taking the country by surprise. Having just completed eight years as Prime Minister and ten as party leader, he said he could not promise the public that he would serve out a fourth term, that leadership change was good for a political party, and that wanting to spend more time with his family was a major factor; the resignation would take effect on December 12, when National MPs would choose a new leader, and he said he would vote for Deputy Prime Minister Bill English if he stood.⁠[4][4][3][3][4][4][4]

In his resignation speech, Key said his government had steered the country through the global financial crisis, the Christchurch earthquakes, and the Pike River Mine disaster, and had pursued changes to tax, welfare, planning, and labour laws, the partial sell-down of state companies, and trade liberalization. He listed not getting the TPP into force and the failed bid to change the flag among his regrets. Winston Peters, leader of New Zealand First, criticized Key for consistently misleading the public about the state of the economy; Jennifer Lees-Marshment, an associate professor at the University of Auckland, argued that Key’s denial of Auckland’s housing and traffic crisis had disconnected his image from ordinary New Zealanders. Key said he would remain in Parliament long enough to avoid a by-election and then move into the commercial sector.⁠[3][3][3][3][4][4][4][4][4]

On the day of his resignation, Key posted on X (then called Twitter) that it had been “an utter privilege and an honour” to serve as Prime Minister.⁠[9][4]

On December 12, 2016, Bill English formally took over as New Zealand’s 39th prime minister, and Key left office.⁠[10][10]

In June 2017, six months after his resignation, Key was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. He also said that it was somewhat sad when former politicians feel they must constantly be commentating on current affairs, and that “you’ve got to let people get on and do their jobs”; he would join the board of Air New Zealand as a director from September 1 that year.⁠[11][11][11][11]

In November 2020, after the National Party suffered its worst defeat since 2002 in that year’s election, Key told the party’s annual meeting that it had to admit its own failings had played a part in the loss, and warned leakers that if they could not quit leaking, they should “quit the party”; he also cautioned the party against expecting the public simply to tire of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern one day, saying “hope is not a strategy.”⁠[12][12][12][12][12]

In October 2022, in a quick-fire round on the online series Both Sides Now, Key said that had he been able to vote, he would have voted for Trump in the 2016 U.S. election and for Bolsonaro in the 2022 Brazilian election, explaining that he always votes for the right; he also said some figures on the right were “getting pretty crazy.”⁠[13][13][13]

As of Crimson Education’s Series D round in November 2024, its shareholders included Key and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.⁠[14]

X: Public account: https://x.com/RtHon_JohnKey (opens in a new window)⁠[9]