Talk to Clark helped Key decide

John Key
John Key

Former prime minister John Key says a conversation with Helen Clark helped make his decision to retire while at the top of his game - but admits it was the hardest decision of his life and he did wake up in the night wondering about it.

An updated edition of John Roughan's biography of Mr Key includes further material from the final years of his time as prime minister as well as a post-resignation interview.

Mr Key says he made the final decision after a trip to New York last September during which he had also had a conversation with Miss Clark, who left Parliament after the Labour government she led was defeated by Mr Key's National Party in 2008.

Mr Key says that in the conversation, he and Miss Clark discussed the right time for a prime minister to resign. He did not believe she realised the significance of the conversation at the time, saying it was "a conversation she didn't know she was having''.

He does not specify what Miss Clark said - and she did not respond to questions about it.

However, Mr Key has since said part of the reason was he did not want to be unpopular.

It was the hardest decision of his life, but he was still certain he made the right call. Despite that, he admitted he had woken up at night sometimes worrying about whether he had let down the public or if National felt he had scuppered its chances of a fourth term.

But he remained adamant he had made the right decision, saying to leave it longer would have meant a "hospital pass'' for his successor, Bill English.

"I absolutely understood the gravity of what I was doing, but even though I went round in circles a bit, I thought `this feels right' and in the end I've got to trust my instincts.''

Mr Key also has a prediction for the 2017 election: that Mr English will get that fourth term - and that New Zealand First leader Winston Peters will side with National over Labour if he has the balance of power.

Mr Key was back in Parliament this week but has told Mr Roughan he has signed up for the international speaking circuit, and was likely to get back into investment banking.

 

Comments

run to Helen

Isn't it funny how NZ political decisions are attributed to, or supposedly influenced by, someone who has not been in the country for some years, and out of NZ politics for 8 years?

That scheme that didn't work out? Helen Clark's responsible for that.

Thanks Helen.