John Key resignation: Meet Bill English, the likely next Prime Minister of New Zealand
Updated
Bill English is the definition of a safe pair of hands and his likely appointment as prime minister will cause few ripples in New Zealand or around the globe.
In a shock announcement, Prime Minister John Key stood down, saying he had given the job everything he had, paving the way for Mr English to take over.
A former leader of the National Party in the early 2000s, he was rolled after a disastrous election result, but rose once again to become Deputy Prime Minister under John Key in 2008.
Where Mr Key — the successful banker — is charismatic and urbane, Mr English is a dry, Kiwi farmer from the deep south.
Their successful political pairing has parallels to Tony Blair/Gordon Brown, John Howard/Peter Costello and Bob Hawke/Paul Keating, but this handover is the cleanest of that lot.
Why is Bill English a (near) certainty to take over?
Mr English is sort of NZ's equivalent to John Howard. He's been around forever and learnt hard political lessons along the way, including being dumped as opposition leader.
He is the most experienced pair of hands in the party and has been a loyal Treasurer to Mr Key for eight years.
Even if he didn't have the personal endorsement of Mr Key (which he does), it's likely his party would turn to him.
If someone else does get a rush of blood, who could it be?
It's hard to see the English being pushed for the top job, but this is politics and his rivals will be crunching the numbers.
The Communications Minister and former Nationals campaign manager Steven Joyce is the man tipped to be next Deputy Leader - he's known in his party as "Mr Fixit" and "Minister of everything".
Climage Change Minister Paula Bennett has been in Parliament for 10 years, and the one-time single teenage mother has often been seen as the caring face of her party. She is yet to comment on if she'll run.
Police Minister Judith Collins has said she is considering running, but she's only just returned from backbench exile after surviving a few political scandals.
What advice will he get from Key?
Be believable and trust your gut, basically.
"Back your instincts," Mr Key said his advice would be.
"You operate as prime minister, not with perfect information all the time. It would be great if you did, but unfortunately hindsight has taught me that things evolve and stories evolve.
"There is always information you didn't find out straight away and you didn't know, but I think most of all, the public are amazingly forgiving of all of that, as long as … they look in your eyes and they believe you.
"I think, particularly television shows your heart and I think in the end if you are trying to do the right thing they will cut you a lot of leeway."
Will we see a shake-up or more of the same?
The NZ dollar fell slightly off the back of Mr Key's resignation, but the markets appeared to be pricing in Bill English taking the top job.
Hobson Wealth Partners head of strategy James Grigor told stuff.co.nz Mr Key's endorsement of Mr English would mean nothing would really change.
"Any slight reaction thus far is probably the extent of it."
Hinting he had Mr English in mind when describing the hypothetical next leader, Mr Key said he expected things to change somewhat.
"Every leader brings their own different way of doing things and their own nuances and their own perception of different priorities and that is what gives the Government a chance to win a fourth term and fifth term, that when we go into the election that people see them as a little fresher, a little different, a little more interesting," he said.
"This is the chance for us to demonstrate a newness about us. Of course people will say, 'If Bill becomes the leader, he's been there a long period of time', but not as prime minister, and that is what makes it new."
When will this happen?
The National Party caucus will hold a meeting on December 12 to decide the new party leader and prime minister.
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, new-zealand
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