John and Bronagh Key
Nick Venter from the Dominion Post got a rare interview with both John and Bronagh Key. As well as the story, they have some video clips with further material. In one of them John tells how concerned he is that Bronagh has started reading the left-wing blogs 🙂
Some parts I found interesting or amusing:
Mrs Key recalls: “I was standing on the doorstep at my friend’s house in my school uniform. I had just biked around on my orange Lowline bike, a pretty ugly bike. John opened the door.”
What was her first impression? Before she can answer, her husband interrupts: “Stunning. All of my (her) dreams come true.”
“Really?”, I ask.
“Actually I don’t know that I really took much notice of you at that point,” she tells her husband apologetically.
Looking at the photo above, you have to say you can’t blame her. Our Prime Minister did look a bit nerdy back then!
Stephie attends the exclusive Auckland girls school St Cuthbert’s College. She works part-time at a hair salon – and full-time keeping a close eye on her father’s pronouncements.
“Sometimes if I’m talking to Stephie about what she’s doing with her future life she quotes my speeches back to me in a rather annoying way,” her father says.
Very smart of her.
Mr Key has on occasion tinkered with the time of Monday afternoon’s post-Cabinet press conference when he needs to get home to make a family commitment.
He makes a particular effort to get to things that are important to his children – he attends about half of Max’s soccer and baseball games, often in a suit, so he can leap into a Crown limo to head for his next engagement – and he takes them along when he is doing things they are interested in.
Making half the games isn’t a bad effort, considering the job.
Mr Key: “They notice it first day back at school for the term and then after a couple of days it goes away. Max quite often says to me people come up to him every day and say to him `I saw your Dad on TV last night’. He goes ‘Wow’.”
Then with the candour that is one of his trademarks Mr Key gives the real version of what his son says. “Well, the exact line is ‘No shit Sherlock’.”
Heh that is one of my favourite sayings.
Boyhood ambitions: “A lot of children want to be prime minister. I get an endless stream of letters and a lot of those letters say to me they would like to have my job.
“I take some comfort from the fact that they are only 11.”
Heh.
His personal style: “The main thing is I try and be who I am. I have learnt things from Helen Clark and I have learnt things from other leaders I have looked at, but I don’t try and be Helen Clark because everyone has got a different personality and mine is a bit more casual. Sometimes it gets me in trouble but largely it works for me.”
There definitely is some of Clark’s leadership style in Key. But this is not surprising as she has been the only PM during his time in Parliament.