What'll it be, Sir William, Bill or his real first name, Simon?
Whatever, Bill English will get a gong, probably in June, a healthy Parliamentary pension, the use of a limo and airfares when he's doing stuff associated with his former role, but alas he won't get what Jacinda Ardern's
in line for - the comfortable Prime Ministerial pension - because he wasn't in the job for two years.
Still, apparently there are plenty of positions on offer for the man who steered the economy through the global financial crisis and the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes, admittedly on the back of a hearty borrowing programme.
Bill English was the chalk to John Key's cheese. There's nothing flashy about this Southland farmer: what you see is generally what you get, although while he's known for his rather gentle, considered side, there's another one that's reserved for those of us who've crossed him on occasion over the past 27 years where he'll let fly with a vitriolic tirade.
That aside, English is realistic, twice having lost the ultimate throne, the first time in a spectacular drubbing, scraping together just 20 per cent of the vote in 2002, and then to the rejection by Winston Peters last election. He knew politics for him had run its course. He was never going to win against Jacinda Ardern with a cute toddler in tow, and for that matter it's unlikely anyone else will either, short of a coalition meltdown.
