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Rt Hon John Key

John Key was born in Auckland and moved to Christchurch when he was a child. He was educated at Burnside High School and gained a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Canterbury.

John launched his investment banking career in New Zealand in the mid-1980s. After 10 years in the New Zealand market he headed offshore, working in Singapore, London, and Sydney for United States investment banking firm Merrill Lynch. During that time he was in charge of a number of business units, including global foreign exchange and European bond and derivative trading. In 1999, John was invited to join the Foreign Exchange Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and on two occasions undertook management studies at Harvard University in Boston.

In 2001, he headed back to New Zealand to fulfil a long held ambition to stand for Parliament for the National Party. He won the Helensville seat in 2002 with a majority of 1589. John rose through the ranks, becoming deputy finance spokesman then finance spokesman. He held the No. 7 ranking in the party before the 2005 election.

After the 2005 election, when his Helensville majority increased to 12,778, he continued to be National’s finance spokesman and was ranked No. 4 before being elected leader on 27 November 2006.

At the 2008 election, John increased his majority in the Helensville seat to 20,547, and he became Prime Minister when National was elected to lead the Government. He also became Minister of Tourism, Minister Responsible for Ministerial Services, Minister in Charge of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, and Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau.

At the 2011 election, John led National to a second election victory, achieving more than 47 per cent of the party vote. This was the highest vote ever for a single party under the MMP system and delivered National 59 seats in the 50th Parliament.

John is married to Bronagh and they have two children. When he has some spare time, he likes to spend it with his family, cooking, playing golf, and watching rugby.