New Zealand election: the vanquished Helen Clark

The vanquished and the victor in New Zealand's election have been likened to Boadicea and the Gladiator.

Helen Clark - Helen Clark, New Zealand's PM, ousted by wealthy investment banker John Key
New Zealand Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark concedes defeat to John Key Credit: Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Now the Gladiator in the form of John Key, leader of the Centre-Right National party, has put Boadicea to the sword – by persuading voters to end nine years in power by Helen Clark, the Labour Party leader.

Miss Clark, New Zealand's first elected woman prime minister, is at 58 a battle-hardened warrior whose early political skills were forged fighting old-fashioned misogynists to claw her way to the top of the Labour party.

Mr Key, younger at 47, with a fresh-faced charm and unshakeable confidence, had overtaken her in public popularity before ousting her in the most important poll of all.

It was the first time that Miss Clark's political dexterity, combined with her remarkable instinct for survival and passion for what she believes in, had failed her since she first burst on to New Zealand's political stage.

In opposition in 1996 she was so disliked by her own senior MPs that they plotted to remove her as leader. Their failure stands as but one testament to her tenacity. A few weeks ago she became the country's fifth longest-serving prime minister.

Fiercely intellectual, Miss Clark graduated with a politics degree from Auckland University in 1974, and it took her many years to shake off her image as a bluestocking, out of touch with New Zealand's rural heartland.

She first became politically active as a teenager, protesting against the Vietnam War, to which New Zealand had sent troops. She lectured in political studies, and in 1981 married another academic, sociologist Professor Peter Davis. They have no children. Her favourite past-time is hiking and mountain-climbing, and has ticked off the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro.

She was first elected a Labour MP in 1981, becoming a minister in the government of David Lange, and finally party leader in 1993. At the 1999 general election, she defeated National's Jenny Shipley, who had gained office as a result of a mid-term party leadership challenge.

Miss Clark won again in 2002 and 2005 – New Zealand has a three-year electoral term – a record achievement for a Labour government.

The country's system of proportional representation stacks the odds against any one party winning a majority in parliament, and an aspiring Prime Minister must make the most of the hand dealt by a sometimes fickle electorate.

Miss Clark proved herself a consummate politician by succeeding in cobbling together coalitions or less formal agreements with a ragbag of disparate minor parties.

Her grip on power was tight. Wellington at one stage was ironically dubbed "Helengrad" by political friend and foe alike. In the country that was first to give women the vote, several glass ceilings were shattered while she was in office: at one point the Governor-General, prime minister, Speaker of the House, Chief Justice, and chief executive of Telecom NZ, the largest public company, were all women.

True to her ideals, Miss Clark's government has been a reforming one.

She presided over the longest period of growth in a generation, and her government chalked up the first free trade agreement between any Western nation and China.

She has increased welfare benefits, made health care and tertiary education more affordable, maintained the country's ban on visiting nuclear warships, and resisted lobbying from New Zealand's friends and allies to send troops to Iraq.

But her government's support for same-sex civil unions and the decriminalisation of prostitution turned Christian fundamentalists against her.

An avowed agnostic and anti-monarchist, Miss Clark is suspected of pursuing a "republicanism by stealth" agenda, having abolished knighthoods, the role of the Privy Council as the highest court of appeal, and the legal title of QC.

A so-called anti-smacking law, passed with a nod from her government, infuriated even those who have no strong political leanings. But perhaps, above all, after nine years there was a mood for change in the land.

"I do believe the future of New Zealand is at stake," Miss Clark said when she announced the date of Saturday's election.

But like Boadicea, her time had eventually run out.