David Lange was New Zealand's youngest prime minister of the 20th century. Renowned for his sharp wit and oratory, he led the fourth Labour government from 1984 until 1989.
Prime Ministers
Events In History
31 August 1974
Leader of the Labour Party since 1965 and prime minister since late 1972, 'Big Norm' died suddenly at the age of 51. He was the fifth New Zealand PM to die in office.
26 November 1960
Keith Holyoake led the National Party to victory over Walter Nash’s Labour government. He went on to become New Zealand’s third longest-serving prime minister, behind Richard Seddon and William Massey.
1 May 1893
Richard John Seddon became premier following the death of John Ballance. Immortalised as ‘King Dick’, Seddon was to dominate the New Zealand political landscape for the next 13 years. He remains this country’s longest-serving premier or prime minister.
7 May 1856
Sewell held the position for just 14 days before being replaced by his provincialist rival William Fox, whose ministry lasted just over a week.
Articles
Premiers and Prime Ministers
From Henry Sewell in 1856 to Christopher Luxon in 2023, New Zealand has had 42 prime ministers and premiers. Read biographies of the men and women who have held the top job, discover more about the role's political origins, and explore fascinating prime ministerial facts and trivia. Read the full article
Page 1 - Premiers and Prime Ministers
From Henry Sewell in 1856 to Christopher Luxon in 2023, New Zealand has had 42 prime ministers and premiers. Read biographies of the men and women who have held the top job,
Page 2 - Political origins
Overview of the influence of the British political system in New Zealand and our move toward self-government in the 19th
Page 3 - Biographies
A list of New Zealand Premiers and Prime Ministers from 1856 to the
Page 4 - Prime ministerial trivia
Trivia about New Zealand's premiers and prime
Housing the Prime Minister
Almost 150 years after the government purchased the first official premier's residence on Tinakori Road, Wellington, the address of Premier House remains the same. But in the intervening years the building has been extended, renamed, abandoned and refurbished. Read the full article
Page 1 - Housing NZ's prime ministers
Almost 150 years after the government purchased the first official premier's residence on Tinakori Road, Wellington, the address of Premier House remains the same. But in the
Page 2 - The first premier house
Our first premiers had to find their own digs. That changed in 1865, when the government bought the premier a simple 22-year-old wooden cottage in Thorndon’s Tinakori
Page 3 - Unofficial prime ministerial houses
From 1935 to 1975 our prime ministers lived in a series of 'unofficial'
Page 4 - Vogel House and Premier House
Since 1975 the official prime minister's residence has been at Vogel House and, since 1990, Premier
Biographies
Gordon Coates seemed unbeatable. Tall and handsome, this affable war hero embodied modernity – he was the ‘jazz premier’. In 1925’s presidential-style election voters elected to take their ‘Coats off with Coates’.
Peter Fraser, New Zealand’s wartime PM, led the nation for nine years. Respected rather than loved like Savage, many experts rate him our finest PM.
In 1972 Norman Kirk broke National’s 12-year-long grip on the Treasury benches and became Labour’s first New Zealand-born PM.
At almost 76, Walter Nash was New Zealand’s oldest incoming PM and the last foreign-born one. He had two wives, Lotty and Parliament. He was still an MP when he died aged 86.
Michael Joseph Savage, New Zealand’s first Labour PM, was probably also it's best-loved. His avuncular image hung in the homes of the Labour faithful for decades.
Seven years and one stomach-stapling operation after entering Parliament in 1977, David Lange became PM at the age of 41.
Holland became PM in 1949. A year later he abolished the Legislative Council, and in 1951, after winning the Waterfront Dispute, he increased his majority in a snap election.
Although William Hall-Jones merely warmed the seat while Richard Seddon’s designated successor, Sir Joseph Ward, returned from Europe, he was the first leader to enter office as prime minister, not premier.
Sir Joseph Ward, New Zealand’s political Lazarus, led governments nearly a quarter of a century apart.
The Liberals were already yesterday’s men when they made Thomas Mackenzie Sir Joseph Ward’s successor after needing the speaker’s casting vote to win a confidence vote.
William Massey is our second-longest serving leader. Although he was reviled by the left for crushing workers in 1913 with his ‘Massey’s Cossacks’ (strike-breakers), his legacy is being re-evaluated.
Sir Francis Bell was PM for only 16 days, but he held several distinctions – the second oldest (74), the first New Zealand-born, and the last from the Legislative Council.
George William Forbes term as prime minister (1930-1935) coincided with the harsh economic and social climate of the 1930s Great Depression.
‘Kiwi Keith’ Holyoake, the first officially designated deputy PM (1954) was our third-longest serving leader.Although criticised for sending troops to the Vietnam War, he is now seen as ‘the most dovish of the hawks’, doing the bare minimum to keep America happy.
‘Gentleman Jack’ Marshall, for long – too long, he felt towards the end – Keith Holyoake’s deputy, spent mere months as PM, but served Cabinet well for two decades.
Norman Kirk’s death in office brought Bill Rowling to the prime ministership unexpectedly in August 1974. A member of an old Tasman Bay farming family, and a teacher by training, he had been finance minister since 1972.
Rob Muldoon was one of our most polarising PMs, the voice of ‘the ordinary bloke’ to supporters and a dictatorial bully to critics.
Geoffrey Palmer, the hardworking, loyal deputy who became PM when David Lange resigned dramatically in August 1989, knew that Labour was doomed. ‘What I got from Lange was a hospital pass.’
In September 1990, just weeks from an election Labour seemed certain to lose, the caucus made Mike Moore New Zealand’s third PM in 13 months.
New Zealand’s most openly republican PM, Jim Bolger presided over major electoral reform and Treaty of Waitangi settlements and outflanked Cabinet opposition to funding the new national museum.
New Zealand’s first woman PM, Jenny Shipley came to power in 1997 after staging a carefully planned coup against Jim Bolger.
Jenny Shipley may have been our first female PM, but Helen Clark was the first elected one. In 2008 she became our fifth longest-serving PM and Labour’s first to win three consecutive elections.
John Key’s prime ministerial parliamentary apprenticeship is the shortest since David Lange’s. Like Lange, he is one of the few recent PMs without prior Cabinet experience.
New Zealand’s third female PM, and at 37 our youngest leader since Edward Stafford in 1856, Jacinda Ardern enjoyed perhaps the most meteoric rise to power of any New Zealand PM
Like Jack Marshall, Bill English served a long and distinguished political apprenticeship prior to becoming PM
Following Jacinda Ardern’s resignation in January 2023 – nine months before that year’s general election was to be held – Chris Hipkins was the sole nominee to succeed her as Labour Party leader and Prime Minister.
Christopher Luxon became New Zealand’s 42nd prime minister after serving one of the shortest political apprenticeships in the country’s history.
Main image: Vogel House
Vogel House in Lower Hutt in 1975, the year it became the official Prime Minister's residence.
