The prime minister of New Zealand is the country's head of government and the leader of the Cabinet, whose powers and responsibilities are defined by convention. Officially, the prime minister is appointed by the governor-general, but by convention, the prime minister must have the confidence of the House of Representatives. The prime minister is always a member of parliament.

Originally, prime ministers headed loose coalitions of independents, which were often unstable; since the advent of political parties, the prime minister is usually the leader of the largest party represented in the house. Since 1935, every prime minister has been a member of either the National party or the Labour party, reflecting their domination of New Zealand politics. After the introduction of mixed-member proportional voting in 1996, prime ministers have usually needed to negotiate agreements with smaller parties to maintain a majority in Parliament.

The title of the office was originally "colonial secretary", which was formally changed to "premier" in 1869. [Source erroneously refers to the Imperial Conference of 1903] That title remained in use almost exclusively for more than 30 years, until Richard Seddon changed it to "prime minister" during his tenure in the office; he used the title officially at the 1902 Colonial Conference.

Some historians regard James FitzGerald as New Zealand's first prime minister, although a more conventional view is that neither he nor his successor (Thomas Forsaith) should properly be given that title, as New Zealand did not yet have responsible government when they served. Most commonly, Henry Sewell, who served during 1856, is regarded as New Zealand's first premier. Since then, a total of 42 individuals have so far held the premiership, not including Hugh Watt, who was acting prime minister following the death of Norman Kirk. Eight prime ministers have held the position for more than one period in office. Richard Seddon, prime minister for thirteen years between 1893 and 1906, held the office for the longest term. The youngest prime minister was Edward Stafford, who assumed office at age 37, and the oldest was Walter Nash, who left office at age 78. Three prime ministers have been women, a count equalled by Finland, Lithuania, Poland and the United Kingdom, and only surpassed by Switzerland.

The current prime minister is Christopher Luxon, who assumed office on 27 November 2023.

List of prime ministers The parties shown are those to which the heads of government belonged at the time they held office and the electoral districts shown are those they represented while in office. Several prime ministers belonged to parties other than those given and represented other electorates before and after their time in office. A number in brackets indicates the prime minister served a previous term in office.

Political parties

Status

Symbols Died in office + Colonial Secretaries (1856–1869) Portrait Name Election Term of office Political party Government Took office Left office Time in office1 Henry Sewell () 7 May1856 20 May1856 14 days Independent Sewell2 Sir William Fox – () 20 May1856 2 June1856 14 days Independent Fox I3 Sir Edward Stafford – () 2 June1856 12 July1861 5 years,41 days Independent Stafford I(2) Sir William Fox () 12 July1861 6 August1862 1 year,26 days Independent Fox II4 Alfred Domett – () 6 August1862 30 October1863 1 year,86 days Independent Domett5 Sir Frederick Whitaker – () 30 October1863 24 November1864 1 year,26 days Independent Whitaker–Fox6 Sir Frederick Weld – () 24 November1864 16 October1865 327 days Independent Weld(3) Sir Edward Stafford – () () 16 October1865 28 June1869 3 years,256 days Independent Stafford II + Premiers and prime ministers (1869–present) Portrait Name Election Term of office Political party Government Took office Left office Time in office(2) Sir William Fox – () () 28 June1869 10 September1872 3 years,75 days Independent Fox III(3) Sir Edward Stafford – () 10 September1872 11 October1872 32 days Independent Stafford III7 George Waterhouse – () 11 October1872 3 March1873 144 days Independent Waterhouse(2) Sir William Fox – () 3 March1873 8 April1873 37 days Independent Fox IV8 Sir Julius Vogel – () 8 April1873 6 July1875 2 years,90 days Independent Vogel I9 Daniel Pollen – () 6 July1875 15 February1876 225 days Independent Pollen(8) Sir Julius Vogel () 15 February1876 1 September1876 200 days Independent Vogel II10 Sir Harry Atkinson – () 1 September1876 13 October1877 1 year,43 days Independent Atkinson I • II11 Sir George Grey – () 13 October1877 8 October1879 1 year,361 days Independent Grey12 Sir John Hall () () 8 October1879 21 April1882 2 years,196 days Independent Hall(5) Sir Frederick Whitaker – () 21 April1882 25 September1883 1 year,158 days Independent Whitaker(10) Sir Harry Atkinson – () 25 September1883 16 August1884 327 days Independent Atkinson III13 Robert Stout () 16 August1884 28 August1884 13 days Independent Stout–Vogel(10) Sir Harry Atkinson – () 28 August1884 3 September1884 7 days Independent Atkinson IV(13) Sir Robert Stout – () 3 September1884 8 October1887 3 years,36 days Independent Stout–Vogel(10) Sir Harry Atkinson () 8 October1887 24 January1891 3 years,109 days Independent Atkinson V14 John Ballance () 24 January1891 27 April1893 2 years,94 days Liberal Liberal15 Richard Seddon – () () () () () () 1 May1893 10 June1906 13 years,41 days Liberal16 William Hall-Jones – () 21 June1906 6 August1906 47 days Liberal17 Sir Joseph Ward – () () () 6 August1906 12 March1912 5 years,220 days Liberal Liberal18 Thomas Mackenzie – () 28 March1912 10 July1912 105 days Liberal19 William Massey – () () () () 10 July1912 10 May1925 12 years,305 days Reform Reform20 Francis Bell – () 14 May1925 30 May1925 17 days Reform21 Gordon Coates – () () 30 May1925 10 December1928 3 years,195 days Reform(17) Sir Joseph Ward () 10 December1928 28 May1930 1 year,170 days United United22 George Forbes – () 28 May1930 6 December1935 5 years,193 daysUnited () United–Reform Coalition23 Michael Joseph Savage () () 6 December1935 27 March1940 4 years,113 days Labour First Labour24 Peter Fraser – () () () 1 April1940 13 December1949 9 years,257 days Labour25 Sir Sidney Holland () () () 13 December1949 20 September1957 7 years,282 days National First National26 Sir Keith Holyoake – () 20 September1957 12 December1957 84 days National27 Sir Walter Nash () 12 December1957 12 December1960 3 years,1 day Labour Second Labour(26) Sir Keith Holyoake () () () () 12 December1960 7 February1972 11 years,58 days National Second National28 Sir Jack Marshall – () 7 February1972 8 December1972 306 days National29 Norman Kirk () 8 December1972 31 August1974 1 year,267 days Labour Third Labour— Hugh WattActing prime minister – () 31 August1974 6 September1974 7 days Labour30 Sir Bill Rowling – () 6 September1974 12 December1975 1 year,98 days Labour31 Sir Robert Muldoon () () () 12 December1975 26 July1984 8 years,228 days National Third National32 David Lange () () 26 July1984 8 August1989 5 years,14 days Labour Fourth Labour33 Sir Geoffrey Palmer – () 8 August1989 4 September1990 1 year,28 days Labour34 Mike Moore – () 4 September1990 2 November1990 60 days Labour35 Jim Bolger () () () 2 November1990 8 December1997 7 years,37 days National Fourth National36 Dame Jenny Shipley – () 8 December1997 10 December1999 2 years,3 days National37 Helen Clark () () () 10 December1999 19 November2008 8 years,346 days Labour Fifth Labour38 Sir John Key () () () 19 November2008 12 December2016 8 years,24 days National Fifth National39 Sir Bill English – () 12 December2016 26 October2017 319 days40 Dame Jacinda Ardern () () 26 October2017 25 January2023 5 years,91 days Labour Sixth Labour41 Chris Hipkins – (53rd) 25 January2023 27 November2023 306 days Labour42 Christopher Luxon () 27 November2023 Incumbent National Sixth National

Timeline

See also List of prime ministers of New Zealand by place of birth List of prime ministers of Queen Victoria List of prime ministers of Edward VII List of prime ministers of George V List of prime ministers of Edward VIII List of prime ministers of George VI List of prime ministers of Elizabeth II List of prime ministers of Charles III

References