1. Sir Simon William English was born on 30 December 1961 and is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 39th prime minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and leader of the National Party from 2001 to 2003 and 2016 to 2018.
68 Facts About Bill English
1. 2.
Bill English had previously served as the 17th deputy prime minister of New Zealand and minister of finance from 2008 to 2016 under John Key and the Fifth National Government.
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Bill English was elevated to Cabinet in 1996 and in 1999 was made minister of finance, although he served for less than a year due to his party's loss at the 1999 general election.
4.
In October 2001, Bill English replaced Jenny Shipley as the leader of the National Party.
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Bill English led the party to its worst defeat at the 2002 general election, and as a consequence, in October 2003 he was replaced as leader by Don Brash.
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In November 2006, after Brash's resignation, Bill English became deputy leader under John Key.
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Bill English became a list-only MP after stepping down as an electorate MP at the 2014 general election.
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Bill English won the resulting leadership election unopposed and was sworn in as prime minister on 12 December 2016.
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Bill English's tenure was only ten months, and included a three-month election campaign.
10.
The parties holding the balance of power declined to support the existing government, and Bill English was replaced as prime minister by Jacinda Ardern, leader of the Labour Party.
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Bill English initially continued on as Leader of the Opposition, but resigned as leader of the National Party on 27 February 2018 and left parliament two weeks later.
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Bill English was born on 30 December 1961 at Lumsden Maternity Centre in Lumsden, a small town in the South Island of New Zealand.
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Bill English is the eleventh of twelve children of Mervyn English and Norah English.
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Bill English's parents purchased "Rosedale", a mixed sheep and cropping farm in Dipton, Southland from Mervyn's uncle, Vincent English, a bachelor, in 1944.
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Bill English attended St Thomas's School in Winton, then boarded at St Patrick's College in Upper Hutt, where he became head boy.
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Bill English played in the first XV of the school's rugby team.
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Bill English went on to study commerce at the University of Otago, where he was a resident at Selwyn College, and then completed an honours degree in Bill English literature at Victoria University of Wellington.
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Bill English joined the National Party in 1980, while at Victoria University.
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Bill English served for a period as chairman of the Southland branch of the Young Nationals, and became a member of the Wallace electorate committee.
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At the 1990 general election, Bill English stood as the National candidate in Wallace, the former electorate of National's first full-time leader, Adam Hamilton.
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Bill English was elected with a large majority amid that year's National landslide.
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Bill English would hold this seat, renamed Clutha-Southland in 1996, until 2014.
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Bill English was made a parliamentary under-secretary in 1993, serving under the Minister of Health.
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In early 1996, Bill English was elevated to cabinet by Prime Minister Jim Bolger, becoming the Minister for Crown Health Enterprises and Associate Minister of Education.
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Bill English was 34 at the time, becoming the cabinet's youngest member.
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Bill English believed that the unpopularity of the reforms was in part due to a failure in messaging, and encouraged his National colleagues to avoid bureaucratic and money-focused language and instead talk about the improvements to services the government's reforms would bring.
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Bill English rejected the idea that public hospitals could be run as commercial enterprises, a view which some of his colleagues had previously promoted.
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Bill English's age was viewed as the main impediment to a successful leadership run.
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Bill English had been a supporter of Bolger as leader, but Shipley reappointed him Minister of Health in her new cabinet.
30.
Bill English was elected deputy leader of the party in February 2001, following the resignation of Wyatt Creech, with Gerry Brownlee being his unsuccessful opponent.
31.
Bill English was elected as her replacement unopposed, and consequently became Leader of the Opposition.
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Aged 39 when he was elected, Bill English became the second-youngest leader in the National Party's history, after Jim McLay.
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Bill English became only the third Southlander to lead a major New Zealand political party, after Joseph Ward and Adam Hamilton.
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Bill English described it as "the worst day of my political life".
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Bill English appeared in a boxing match for a charity against entertainer Ted Clarke.
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On 2 November 2003, when Brash changed responsibilities for certain MPs, Bill English became National's spokesman for education, ranked at fifth place in the party's parliamentary hierarchy.
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Bill English was considered as a potential replacement leader or deputy leader in the ensuing leadership election.
38.
Bill English took over the deputy leadership and the finance portfolio in the Key shadow cabinet.
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At the 2008 election, Bill English was re-elected by his electorate, winning by a margin of about 15,500 votes.
40.
Bill English became Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand and Minister of Finance in the fifth National Government, being sworn into office on 19 November 2008 and continued to serve in those roles until becoming Prime Minister on 12 December 2016.
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Bill English was made Minister of Infrastructure in National's first term of government and Minister responsible for Housing New Zealand Corporation and minister responsible for the New Zealand flag consideration process in its third.
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Bill English was comfortably re-elected in Clutha-Southland in the 2011 election but opted to run as a party-list candidate in 2014.
43.
Bill English acceded to the role of finance minister in the continuing wake of the financial crisis.
44.
At the time, Bill English received $276,200 in his annual salary as deputy prime minister.
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Bill English subsequently paid back $12,000 and only claimed about $24,000 a year in living allowances.
46.
Two days later Bill English stated that he would no longer take up any housing allowance and had paid back all the allowance he had received since the November 2008 election.
47.
In February 2017, Bill English did not attend Waitangi Day commemorations at the historic treaty grounds, reportedly in response to the Ngapuhi iwi's decision to stop the Prime Minister from speaking at the marae.
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Bill English had been invited to attend in an official capacity; his non-attendance was criticised by a Ngapuhi elder and Opposition leader Andrew Little.
49.
Bill English first travelled to London on 13 January 2017 to meet British prime minister Theresa May Discussing trade relations, English said the two nations were "natural partners" and would "continue to forge ties" after the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
50.
At a press conference at the Beehive on 1 February 2017, Bill English announced that the 2017 general election would be held on 23 September.
51.
On 13 February 2017, Bill English welcomed Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to Wellington.
52.
Bill English admitted that he had been aware of the illegal recording and the settlement, and thus implicated in the scandal.
53.
Prime Minister Bill English sought to defend National's financial management and economic track record and claimed that the opposition Labour Party would raise taxes.
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Bill English was re-elected as National Party leader on 24 October 2017.
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At the time of his re-election, Bill English announced his intention to stay on as leader until the next general election.
56.
Bill English's resignation followed weeks of speculation that he would step aside for a new leader.
57.
In 2018, Bill English joined the board of Australian conglomerate, Wesfarmers.
58.
Bill English serves in Chairmanships of Mount Cook Alpine Salmon, Impact Lab Ltd and Manawanui Support Ltd.
59.
Bill English is a director of The Instillery, Centre for Independent Studies and The Todd Corporation Limited, and is a member of the Impact Advisory Group of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.
60.
On 20 May 2024, Bill English's review found that Kainga Ora exploited its easy access to Government credit and excessively borrowed without exercising fiscal discipline.
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Bill English is regarded as more socially conservative than his predecessor, John Key.
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Bill English has stated his opposition to voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, same-sex civil unions, and the decriminalisation of prostitution.
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In 2004, English voted against a bill to establish civil unions for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
64.
In 2009, English voted against the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill, a bill aimed at amending the Misuse of Drugs Act so that cannabis could be used for medical purposes.
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Bill English was studying medicine at the time, and became a general practitioner.
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Bill English is a practising Roman Catholic, but has stated that he considers his religious beliefs personal and thus separate from politics.
67.
In June 2002, Bill English took part in TV3's Fight For Life, a celebrity boxing fundraiser to raise money for the Yellow Ribbon anti-youth-suicide campaign, influenced by the death of a teenage nephew in 1997.
68.
Bill English lost a split decision to former university colleague Ted Clarke.