Bill English’s long road
Reputation studiously rebuilt after a political mauling 14 years ago, the new PMnow has chance to right the record, writes Claire Trevett
Bill English allowed himself just one smile when he turned up to front media after the road to the Prime Ministership opened for him on Thursday.
It was not quite as big as his grin earlier in the day when he showed off the $ 8 billion surpluses he had managed to get in the forecasts, but it was harder earned.
On election night in 2002 a broken English was led away in tears by a staff member after National hit rock bottom with a 21.8 per cent result. It had been a long road from those tears to that one smile.
The immediate questions facing English he couldn’t answer. When would he do his reshuffle? Would he call an early election?
The answer to the second will be “no”. An early election would be about July. The last time New Zealand had an election in July was in 2002.
The fewer similarities between that Winter of Discontent the better, as far as English is concerned. but English was always the one tipped for leadership.
After 11 years in Parliament he got there when he rolled Jenny Shipley in October 2001. He was dubbed the “new generation” leader.
Nine months later, he lost a torrid election campaign which only NZ First and United Future benefited from.
Labour too had struggled as Helen Clark was hit by the Corngate affair exposed in Nicky Hager’s book. But National’s result was catastrophic.
Within National, there were varying opinions as to how much of the blame English should wear. His supporters say he was let down by the party which had failed to come through with the funding and organisation English needed.
It did not really matter — in the eyes of the public it was English who had failed.
Chris Finlayson was a party official at the time and had known English since 1987.
He said English was left to carry the can for an abysmal failure to deliver by the party.
“It was a nightmare. Every morning you’d wake up and hear ‘ another horror poll for National’. And I don’t think anyone has been through hell the way he went through hell in 2002 and then suffered the massive disappointment of losing out to Brash.
“It was a searing, unbelievably bleak time. A lesser person would have simply sloped off and said ‘ who needs this?”’
Instead, English gritted his teeth. After Don Brash rolled him as leader he plugged away to become one of National’s greatest assets in Opposition, hammering Labour in the education portfolio and over measures such as the Electoral Finance Act.
English said in a Herald interview once that the reason he soldiered on was because of his children.
“I’d been telling my kids for years that if they get knocked down they should get up so, in a very public event, I kind of had to do it myself. I had to do it myself to demonstrate integrity to them. That was a big motivator.”
It is a time English has referred to again in recent days, saying “you learn more from losing than you do from winning”.
Nonetheless taking on the leadership again and putting his carefully rebuilt reputation back on the line is no small thing for English. The extent to which Key was a factor in National’s polling is an unknown and English will have to test that.
That was why Key went to English way back in September and told him he intended to resign. It was to give English time to get used to the idea of being leader again — and to talk him into it.
WHEN DON Brash resigned in 2006 there were long talks at Key’s Parnell house.
Key and English were the only possible options to replace him.
A deal was brokered for Gerry Brownlee to step aside as deputy and Bill English to take the deputy role.
Long time friend Nick Smith said they were considered the “dream team” because they were politically similar. “They straddle that space of being a centre- right, very much in the traditions of the National Party — compassionate conservatism, but believing in enterprise and opportunity.”
He said at that point English effectively resigned himself to the knowledge he would never become Prime Minister.
“Both Bill and those close to him assumed the bus had passed him by for being PM of New Zealand when he took the decision to serve as John’s deputy.”
The “extraordinary decision” by Key to resign and pass the baton has changed that.
“Politics is a bruising business and Bill has taken some of the hardest punches. But equally he is incredibly committed to politics and what you can achieve through the process of Government.”
He said the rigours of English’s ca- reer had made him a better politician and person.
SOME NATIONAL ministers are oblivious, but National conducts polls on individual ministers to assess their impact and palatability with voters.
Key anointed English because English was trusted by voters.
But it might take more than that. English has convinced business — he did that long ago. He i s highly regarded by his staff. The question is whether he can convince the rest of New Zealand.
English has long been a foil to Key. English once described himself as a stayer and Key as a sprinter. “I grind