Sir Simon William "Bill" English (born 30 December 1961) is a New Zealand politician. He was the 39th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and the leader of the National Party. He was previously Deputy Prime Minister from 2008 to 2016.
At the 2017 general election, National won the largest share of the party vote (44.4%) and the largest number of seats (56) in the House Representatives.
However, National lacked enough seats to govern alone due to two of the party's support partners, the Māori Party and United Future, losing their parliamentary seats. In response, English announced that the party would be entering into talks to form a coalition with New Zealand First. However, on 19 October 2017, Jacinda Ardern became the next Prime Minister after Winston Peters announced he would enter a coalition government with Labour.
References
Other websites
Bill English MP official site
Profile at National party
Profile on Parliamentary website
1961 births
Living people
Prime Ministers of New Zealand
Deputy Prime Ministers of New Zealand
Leaders of the Opposition (New Zealand)