Shipley to farewell politics at election

Jenny Shipley will celebrate her 50th birthday in a few days having made one of the biggest decisions in her life - to end her 15-year career as an MP.

Mrs Shipley made the announcement at an Ashburton electorate meeting tonight, saying she would not seek re-election this year.

"I came into politics determined to make a difference and improve the prospects for the New Zealand people.

"I leave now feeling that I have achieved my goal. A next generation of National MPs must now face the challenge of achieving theirs on behalf of our country and I intend to give them my full support."

The decision follows her ousting as party leader last October 8, when she was replaced by Bill English, in a classic case of what comes around goes around; in late 1997 after she and her supporters ousted then prime minister Jim Bolger in a swiftly executed coup just after he returned to New Zealand from an overseas trip.

Mrs Shipley had been a loyal, hard-working servant of Mr Bolger but she moved ruthlessly against him when she sensed the party needed a new look - and the time was ripe.

Her time as prime minister was brief but she made her mark, particularly on the world stage.

She made several overseas trips, was the first woman leader to attend an Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in Kuala Lumpur in November, 1998, and less than a year later hosted the Apec conference in Auckland, a meeting attended by then United States President Bill Clinton and China's President Jiang Zemin.

Mrs Shipley excelled at the summit and her ratings soared but she failed to convert the successes into votes in the 1999 election.

The National Party, holding power from 1996 only with the support of difficult coalition partner New Zealand First, had a tired look about it in its third three-year term under Mr Bolger and Mrs Shipley's supporters hoped for swift and firm action from her to boost its flagging prospects.

They didn't get it. When she took over, she made only minor changes to her cabinet where she might have been bold, and it was months before she moved against New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, removing him from the deputy prime minister's post.

Political scientist Barry Gustafson said early in 1999 her performance had damaged National's general election campaign plans, and she had compounded her problems through a "self-righteous" style of self-defence.

Mrs Shipley was born in Gore on February 4, 1952, the second daughter of Presbyterian minister Len Robson.

She grew up in Marlborough, married Burton Shipley, son of a well-known Canterbury farming family, at 21 and raised son Ben and daughter Anna.

By the time Mrs Shipley became the MP for Ashburton in 1987, at the age of 35, she had already cut her teeth in local politics.

She was urged to stand for Parliament by close friend and finance minister Ruth Richardson.

Mrs Shipley was impressive as a backbencher and by 1989 was already being touted as a future leader. She was promoted to the cabinet as minister of social welfare, a major and demanding portfolio.

She and Ms Richardson were soon to become the public's most reviled politicians as they worked hand-in-hand - Ms Richardson writing her infamous "Mother of all Budgets" in 1990, and Mrs Shipley delivering bad news as she cut welfare benefits.

After social welfare, she became health minister in 1993 and her unpopularity with sections of the public was cast in stone as she zealously reformed the health sector, in the face of a public outcry.

However, she has not been so staunch in her most recent role as National's trade and state services spokeswoman at No 22 in the party's line-up and has looked extremely uncomfortable in her new seat in the House.

She will, no doubt, be looking forward to life out of the public eye.

- NZPA