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| John Key resigns: New Zealand prime minister to quit in a week | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| John Key, the New Zealand prime minister and leader of the National party, has resigned in a decision that has taken the country by surprise. | |
| Key held a media conference in Wellington at 12.45pm local time, after informing the cabinet of his decision. | |
| His resignation would be effective 12 December, when National MPs will hold a special meeting to select a new leader. | |
| Key said he would vote for his deputy prime minister, Bill English, if he put his name forward. English briefly led the party to its worst-ever electoral defeat in the 2002 election, but has since served as a successful finance minister. | |
| Key is widely regarded as one of the most popular prime ministers in New Zealand’s history. | |
| He said stepping down was the hardest decision he had ever had to make, but there was “no way” he could have served a full fourth term. | |
| This felt like the “right time” to go, he told reporters. “Sometimes you’ve got to make hard decisions to make right decisions,” he said, adding it was an opportunity to refresh the National party’s leadership of the country for a fourth term. | |
| “I think one of the reasons governments fail at that fourth-term hurdle is leaders don’t want to leave, everyone says ‘I’ve seen this before’. This is the chance to demonstrate newness about us.” | |
| One of his regrets was not getting the Trans-Pacific Partnership “over the line”, as well as his failed bid to change the flag. | |
| He said he had a “pretty long discussion” about standing for a fourth term with his wife, Bronagh Key. “I don’t feel comfortable looking down the barrel of the camera and not being honest ... On a family basis, I don’t think I could commit much longer than the next election.” | |
| He denied that Bronagh Key had given him an ultimatum. “It’s been a decade of a lot of long, lonely nights for her and it’s the right time for me to come home.” | |
| Key said he believed the mark of a good prime minister was one who led the country in a better position than when he took over office. “Over time others will judge if I’ve done that,” he said. “All I can say is I’ve given it everything I had and left nothing in the tank.” | |
| He said he would remain in parliament long enough to avoid a byelection, but would step down as an MP before the next election. He said he stood down “hoping and believing New Zealand had been well served by the government I led”. | He said he would remain in parliament long enough to avoid a byelection, but would step down as an MP before the next election. He said he stood down “hoping and believing New Zealand had been well served by the government I led”. |
| The leader of the Labour party, Andrew Little, and the Green party co-leader, Metiria Turei, both wished Key well for the future on Twitter. | |
| John Key has served New Zealand generously and with dedication. I wish him and his family the best for the future. | |
| I fought every day against John's politics but always supported his right to be a dad & a husband first. I wish him and his family well. | |
| ACT New Zealand leader David Seymour congratulated Key on the “noble way he has bowed out”. | |
| The New Zealand dollar fell more than a quarter of a cent after the announcement. | The New Zealand dollar fell more than a quarter of a cent after the announcement. |