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.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4] 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. Beginning with Sewell, 42 individuals have so far held the premiership,[5] [6] 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.[7] 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.[8] Three prime ministers have been women, a count equalled by Finland, Lithuania, Poland and the United Kingdom, and only surpassed by Switzerland.[9]
The current prime minister is Christopher Luxon, who assumed office on 27 November 2023.[10]
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.
| scope=col rowspan="2" | scope=col rowspan="2" width="100px" | Portrait | scope=col rowspan="2" | Name | scope=col rowspan="2" width="90px" | Election | Term of office | scope=col rowspan="2" | Political party | scope=col rowspan="2" | Government | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=col | Took office | scope=col | Left office | scope=col | Time in office | |||||||||
| 1 | scope=row | Henry Sewell | () | class=nowrap height=100 style="min-height:100px" | 7 May 1856 | class=nowrap height=100 style="min-height:100px" | 20 May 1856 | 14 days | Independent | Sewell | ||||
| 2 | scope=row | Sir William Fox | – () | 20 May 1856 | 2 June 1856 | 14 days | Independent | Fox I | ||||||
| 3 | scope=row | Sir Edward Stafford | – () | 2 June 1856 | 12 July 1861 | 5 years, 41 days | Independent | Stafford I | ||||||
| (2) | scope=row | Sir William Fox | () | 12 July 1861 | 6 August 1862 | 1 year, 26 days | Independent | Fox II | ||||||
| 4 | scope=row | Alfred Domett | – () | 6 August 1862 | 30 October 1863 | 1 year, 86 days | Independent | Domett | ||||||
| 5 | scope=row | Sir Frederick Whitaker | – () | 30 October 1863 | 24 November 1864 | 1 year, 26 days | Independent | Whitaker–Fox | ||||||
| 6 | scope=row | Sir Frederick Weld | – () | 24 November 1864 | 16 October 1865 | 327 days | Independent | Weld | ||||||
| (3) | scope=row | Sir Edward Stafford | – () () | 16 October 1865 | 28 June 1869 | 3 years, 256 days | Independent | Stafford II | ||||||
| scope=col rowspan="2" | scope=col rowspan="2" width="100px" | Portrait | scope=col rowspan="2" | Name | scope=col rowspan="2" width="90px" | Election | Term of office | scope=col rowspan="2" | Political party | scope=col rowspan="2" | Government | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=col | Took office | scope=col | Left office | scope=col | Time in office | |||||||||
| (2) | scope=row | Sir William Fox | – () () | class=nowrap height=100 style="min-height:100px" | 28 June 1869 | class=nowrap height=100 style="min-height:100px" | 10 September 1872 | 3 years, 75 days | Independent | Fox III | ||||
| (3) | scope=row | Sir Edward Stafford | – () | 10 September 1872 | 11 October 1872 | 32 days | Independent | Stafford III | ||||||
| 7 | scope=row | George Waterhouse | – () | 11 October 1872 | 3 March 1873 | 144 days | Independent | Waterhouse | ||||||
| (2) | scope=row | Sir William Fox | – () | 3 March 1873 | 8 April 1873 | 37 days | Independent | Fox IV | ||||||
| 8 | scope=row | Sir Julius Vogel | – () | 8 April 1873 | 6 July 1875 | 2 years, 90 days | Independent | Vogel I | ||||||
| 9 | scope=row | Daniel Pollen | – () | 6 July 1875 | 15 February 1876 | 225 days | Independent | Pollen | ||||||
| (8) | scope=row | Sir Julius Vogel | () | 15 February 1876 | 1 September 1876 | 200 days | Independent | Vogel II | ||||||
| 10 | scope=row | Sir Harry Atkinson | – () | 1 September 1876 | 13 October 1877 | 1 year, 43 days | Independent | Atkinson I • II | ||||||
| 11 | scope=row | Sir George Grey | – () | 13 October 1877 | 8 October 1879 | 1 year, 361 days | Independent | Grey | ||||||
| 12 | scope=row | Sir John Hall | () () | 8 October 1879 | 21 April 1882 | 2 years, 196 days | Independent | Hall | ||||||
| (5) | scope=row | Sir Frederick Whitaker | – () | 21 April 1882 | 25 September 1883 | 1 year, 158 days | Independent | Whitaker | ||||||
| (10) | scope=row | Sir Harry Atkinson | – () | 25 September 1883 | 16 August 1884 | 327 days | Independent | Atkinson III | ||||||
| 13 | scope=row | Robert Stout | () | 16 August 1884 | 28 August 1884 | 13 days | Independent | Stout–Vogel | ||||||
| (10) | scope=row | Sir Harry Atkinson | – () | 28 August 1884 | 3 September 1884 | 7 days | Independent | Atkinson IV | ||||||
| (13) | scope=row | Sir Robert Stout | – () | 3 September 1884 | 8 October 1887 | 3 years, 36 days | Independent | Stout–Vogel | ||||||
| (10) | scope=row | Sir Harry Atkinson | () | 8 October 1887 | 24 January 1891 | 3 years, 109 days | Independent | Atkinson V | ||||||
| 14 | scope=row | John Ballance | () | 24 January 1891 | 27 April 1893 | 2 years, 94 days | Liberal | Liberal | ||||||
| 15 | scope=row | Richard Seddon | – () () () () () () | 1 May 1893 | 10 June 1906 | 13 years, 41 days | ||||||||
| 16 | scope=row | William Hall-Jones | – () | 21 June 1906 | 6 August 1906 | 47 days | ||||||||
| 17 | scope=row | Sir Joseph Ward | – () () () | class=nowrap height=100 style="min-height:100px" | 6 August 1906 | class=nowrap height=100 style="min-height:100px" | 12 March 1912 | 5 years, 220 days | Liberal | |||||
| 18 | scope=row | Thomas Mackenzie | – () | 28 March 1912 | 10 July 1912 | 105 days | ||||||||
| 19 | scope=row | William Massey | – () () () () | 10 July 1912 | 10 May 1925 | 12 years, 305 days | Reform | Reform | ||||||
| 20 | scope=row | Francis Bell | – () | 14 May 1925 | 30 May 1925 | 17 days | ||||||||
| 21 | scope=row | Gordon Coates | – () () | 30 May 1925 | 10 December 1928 | 3 years, 195 days | ||||||||
| (17) | scope=row | Sir Joseph Ward | () | 10 December 1928 | 28 May 1930 | 1 year, 170 days | United | United | ||||||
| 22 | scope=row rowspan="2" | George Forbes | – () | 28 May 1930 | 6 December 1935 | 5 years, 193 days | ||||||||
| () | United–Reform Coalition | |||||||||||||
| 23 | scope=row | Michael Joseph Savage | () () | 6 December 1935 | 27 March 1940 | 4 years, 113 days | Labour | First Labour | ||||||
| 24 | scope=row | Peter Fraser | – () () () | 1 April 1940 | 13 December 1949 | 9 years, 257 days | ||||||||
| 25 | scope=row | Sir Sidney Holland | () () () | 13 December 1949 | 20 September 1957 | 7 years, 282 days | National | First National | ||||||
| 26 | scope=row | Sir Keith Holyoake | – () | 20 September 1957 | 12 December 1957 | 84 days | ||||||||
| 27 | scope=row | Sir Walter Nash | () | 12 December 1957 | 12 December 1960 | 3 years, 1 day | Labour | Second Labour | ||||||
| (26) | scope=row | Sir Keith Holyoake | () () () () | 12 December 1960 | 7 February 1972 | 11 years, 58 days | National | Second National | ||||||
| 28 | scope=row | Sir Jack Marshall | – () | 7 February 1972 | 8 December 1972 | 306 days | ||||||||
| 29 | scope=row | Norman Kirk | () | 8 December 1972 | 31 August 1974 | 1 year, 267 days | Labour | Third Labour | ||||||
| — | scope=row | Hugh Watt Acting prime minister | – () | 31 August 1974 | 6 September 1974 | 7 days | ||||||||
| 30 | scope=row | Sir Bill Rowling | – () | 6 September 1974 | 12 December 1975 | 1 year, 98 days | ||||||||
| 31 | scope=row | Sir Robert Muldoon | () () () | 12 December 1975 | 26 July 1984 | 8 years, 228 days | National | Third National | ||||||
| 32 | scope=row | David Lange | () () | 26 July 1984 | 8 August 1989 | 5 years, 14 days | Labour | Fourth Labour | ||||||
| 33 | scope=row | Sir Geoffrey Palmer | – () | 8 August 1989 | 4 September 1990 | 1 year, 28 days | ||||||||
| 34 | scope=row | Mike Moore | – () | 4 September 1990 | 2 November 1990 | 60 days | ||||||||
| 35 | scope=row | Jim Bolger | () () () | 2 November 1990 | 8 December 1997 | 7 years, 37 days | National | Fourth National | ||||||
| 36 | scope=row | Dame Jenny Shipley | – () | 8 December 1997 | 10 December 1999 | 2 years, 3 days | ||||||||
| 37 | scope=row | Helen Clark | () () () | 10 December 1999 | 19 November 2008 | 8 years, 346 days | Labour | Fifth Labour | ||||||
| 38 | scope=row | Sir John Key | () () () | 19 November 2008 | 12 December 2016 | 8 years, 24 days | National | Fifth National | ||||||
| 39 | scope=row | Sir Bill English | – () | 12 December 2016 | 26 October 2017 | 319 days | ||||||||
| 40 | scope=row | Dame Jacinda Ardern | () () | 26 October 2017 | 25 January 2023 | 5 years, 91 days | Labour | Sixth Labour | ||||||
| 41 | Chris Hipkins | – (53rd) | 25 January 2023 | 27 November 2023 | 306 days | |||||||||
| 42 | Christopher Luxon | () | 27 November 2023 | Incumbent | National | Sixth National | ||||||||