Former Rotorua MP and National Party Cabinet minister Paul East dies

Paul East at home in 2013. Photo / Stephen Parker

Former National Party MP Paul East has died. He was 76.

Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper told Heather du Plessis-Allan that East was a former Cabinet minister in Jim Bolger’s Government.

Soper says East had been ill for a very long time, and his heart goes out to the former MP’s family.

East was a former Attorney-General, Rotorua MP and Rotorua deputy mayor.

News of his death comes within hours of the announcement that former National MP Chester Borrows had died.

The 65-year-old was diagnosed with cancer last year.

Borrows served as Courts Minister and Deputy Speaker of the House in John Key’s Government, before retiring in 2017.

- Newstalk ZB