37 Facts About Jim Bolger

James Brendan Bolger is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997.

Jim Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Opunake, Taranaki.

Jim Bolger won election to Parliament in 1972, and subsequently served in several portfolios in the Third National Government.

Jim Bolger served as Leader of the Opposition from 1986 to 1990.

Jim Bolger continued as Prime Minister, however his critics argued that he gave the inexperienced NZ First too much influence in his Cabinet.

On 8 December 1997, Jim Bolger was effectively ousted as leader by his party caucus, and was replaced as Prime Minister by Jenny Shipley.

Jim Bolger was born into an Irish Catholic family; Bolger was one of five children born to Daniel and Cecilia Bolger who emigrated together from Gorey, County Wexford, in 1930.

Jim Bolger said that his early childhood was dominated by the effects of World War II.

Jim Bolger left Opunake High School at age 15 to work on the family dairy farm.

Jim Bolger joined became active in Federated Farmers becoming a branch chairman in 1962, sub-provincial chairman in 1970 and Waikato provincial vice-president in 1971.

Jim Bolger was a member of the Waikato and King Country agricultural advisory committees.

In 1963, Jim Bolger married Joan Riddell, and they moved to their own sheep and beef farm in Te Kuiti two years later.

Jim Bolger joined the Egmont branch of the National Party and was later an officeholder in the Te Kuiti branch.

Jim Bolger entered politics in 1972 as the New Zealand National Party Member of Parliament for King Country, a newly created electorate in the rural western portion of North Island.

Jim Bolger represented this electorate, renamed Taranaki-King Country in 1996, until his retirement in 1998.

At the formation of the Third National Government in 1975 Jim Bolger was designated as Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and to Minister of Maori Affairs.

In late 1980 Bolger was a leading member of 'the Colonels' who attempted to dump Muldoon as leader and put the party back into line with traditional National Party policies after feeling they were being abandoned.

McLay succeeded but Jim Bolger was elected as deputy leader.

Three days after being sworn in as Prime Minister, Jim Bolger's government needed to bail out the Bank of New Zealand, then the largest bank in the country.

Jim Bolger's government introduced the Building Act 1991, which is seen by some as a crucial factor leading to New Zealand's later leaky homes crisis.

Jim Bolger opposed electoral reform, but despite his party's opposition held a referendum on whether or not New Zealand should change from the British-style electoral system of 'first past the post' to one of proportional representation.

Jim Bolger had originally proposed a return to a bicameral system, with a Senate elected by Single Transferable Vote, but retreated from this in the face of support for electoral reform.

Jim Bolger initially attacked the report produced by the Commission of Inquiry, arguing that the platform failed "essentially because it lacked about $20 worth of bolts to hold it together".

Jim Bolger's government dispatched HMNZS Tui to provide support for the flotilla.

Jim Bolger's government ended the awarding of British honours in 1996, introducing a New Zealand Honours System.

Jim Bolger's government stayed in office in a caretaker role while negotiations began for a coalition government.

Jim Bolger had to pay a very high price in order to stay in power, however.

Jim Bolger was out of the country at the time, and when he returned he found that he did not have enough support in his caucus to remain as party leader and prime minister.

Jim Bolger made up for his lack of education by having an innate ability to relate to the aspirations of ordinary Kiwis.

Jim Bolger retired as MP for Taranaki-King Country in 1998, prompting the 1998 by-election and subsequently became New Zealand's Ambassador to the United States.

Jim Bolger chairs Express Couriers Ltd, Trustees Executors Ltd, the Gas Industry Company Ltd, the Advisory Board of the World Agricultural Forum, St Louis, USA, the New Zealand United States Council, and the Board of Directors of the Ian Axford Fellowships in Public Policy.

Jim Bolger was elected Chancellor of the University of Waikato on 14 February 2007, succeeding John Jackman.

Jim Bolger became chair of the company, renamed KiwiRail, a position he held until 1 July 2010.

Jim Bolger expressed concern about poverty and inequality in an interview with Radio New Zealand's Guyon Espiner.

On 5 June 2018, Jim Bolger was appointed to head the Labour government's fair pay agreement working group, tasked with reporting back on the design of industry-wide Fair Pay Agreements by the end of that year.

In 1977, Jim Bolger was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.

Jim Bolger voted against abortion rights whenever the issue came up in a parliamentary conscience vote.