Years in Parliament until they became PM
When looking at the weekend at the lengths of terms for party leaders, I also had a look at how many years it took for an MP to become Prime Minister. The results are below:
- John Key 6 years
- David Lange 7 years
- Jenny Shipley 10 years
- Geoffrey Palmer 10 years
- Bill Rowling 12 years
- Mike Moore 12 years
- Richard Seddon 14 years
- Sid Holland 14 years
- Gordon Coates 14 years
- Robert Muldoon 15 years
- Norman Kirk 15 years
- William Hall-Jones 16 years
- Michael Joseph Savage 16 years
- Jim Bolger 18 years
- William Massey 18 years
- Helen Clark 18 years
- Joseph Ward 19 years
- George Forbes 22 years
- Peter Fraser 22 years
- Keith Holyoake 25 years
- Thomas Mackenzie 25 years
- Jack Marshall 25 years
- Walter Nash 28 years
- Francis Bell 32 years
I’ve only included Prime Ministers, not Premiers.
It is interesting the fastest six are all from the modern era, and before that the fastest riser was Seddon. I’m not sure anyone will ever beat John Key’s record of six years.