Jim Bolger in 1997. Photo: Patrick Riviere\/Getty Images
\nJenny Shipley\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJim Bolger was a highly effective leader who made a defining impact on the New Zealand we are today through his leadership of the major economic and social change in the 90s, establishing the settlement and reparation process of M\u0101ori land settlements and the referendum and then introduction of MMP electoral system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe lived his values. He and his wife Joan served New Zealand tirelessly together and were one of the great political partnerships New Zealand has seen. My deepest sympathy goes to Joan and the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dame Jenny Shipley served as a senior minister in Bolger\u2019s cabinet from 1990 and succeeded him as PM in 1997.<\/p>\n
Wayne Eagleson<\/p>\n
\u201cJim was an excellent prime minister and an even better person. So many of the staff who worked with him more than 30 years ago have remained loyal and lifelong friends to him and Joan which tells you so much.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a boss, Jim was clear on his expectations but never felt the need to bully or scream. Disappointing him \u2013 as I did on one notable occasion \u2013 was met with a sad look in his eyes and the comment, \u201cI expected so much more from you Wayne,\u201d which cut deeper than any stern telling off. It made me even more determined to do better for him next time.<\/p>\n
\u201cJim\u2019s political life spanned massive changes in New Zealand. Not least technology \u2013 I vividly remember walking down the main street of Oamaru in the 1990 campaign holding my brick of a mobile phone to the very large \u201cportable\u201d fax machine while the office sent through speech notes for the coming event. No email, no text and no social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cJim had unbelievable energy. He could and did go all day, often enjoying a late-night whiskey only to bound up again first thing in the morning. His ability to sleep in cars and on planes was legendary.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes Jim\u2019s political opponents underestimated his intelligence because of the fact he had little formal education. What a mistake that was. Jim was incredibly bright, sharp as a tack and was able to work through an official\u2019s brief as well as anyone. He was curious and well read. In the opposition days when he had a little more time, we swapped US political biographies to read, and he worked his way through the first volume of Robert Caro\u2019s The Years of Lyndon Johnson in no time at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Jim Bolger of the late 1980s increasingly enjoyed wearing nice suits \u2013 perhaps it was Winston\u2019s influence! He wore double-breasted suits often as was the fashion of the times, and the male staffers in the office knew that if they came in wearing a particularly flash tie it could easily be commandeered for the next TV interview. We may or may not get them back.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo thoughts on Jim would be complete without a word on Joan. Without Joan, Jim couldn\u2019t have been as successful. Joan was in many respects his key political adviser \u2013 Jim valued her opinion and actively sought it out. Joan travelled to so many places around New Zealand with Jim, often in campaigns having her own schedule because she was popular in her own right. What an asset to Jim and the country Joan was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wayne Eagleson worked in Bolger\u2019s office in opposition and the Beehive.<\/p>\n
Todd Muller<\/p>\n
\u201cI was only 25 when I started work at the Office of the Prime Minister for Jim Bolger and it still rates as the most fun I have ever had in my career. My job was to plan his visits throughout the country, usually on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and travel with him to ensure it ran smoothly. Often it was just Jim and Joan, a driver and I in the car and my abiding memory is their love for each other and their infectious sense of humour. Tears of laughter was common not only in the car, but on the ninth floor and Premier House with both the staff and his family. He was an absolute professional and statesmen but he had a love of the slightly absurd. I can remember him showing off a gift of a rugby jersey for a prop from the club he played for when he was young. When I retorted it must have shrunk in the wash \u2013 his eyes sparkled then he roared with laughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was demanding but fair. I can still remember like yesterday forgetting to double-check media were allowed at a visit during the tough 1996 election. They weren\u2019t and I stood in horror with the media pack idling, eating sandwiches as Jim had a personal tour around the business. His response, a blunt reminder we weren\u2019t playing a game of tiddlywinks and to sharpen up. Then he carried on with the day with me and everyone else as if nothing had happened and we were 40 points ahead in the polls.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe atmosphere in the ninth floor was similarly invigorating. Everyone worked hard with high expectations managing difficult issues, but there was always this seam of humour that lightened the space.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been a tremendous mentor to me throughout the last 30 years, regularly chatting about NZ and global politics and trends. I will miss him deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n
Todd Muller worked in Bolger\u2019s prime ministerial office.<\/p>\n
Tau Henare<\/p>\n
\u201cAt no time would he be embarrassed about putting his hand around your shoulder \u2013 just\u00a0 a good man to talk to, with that Irish and farming background. People like him and McKinnon were the best people I worked with. Their humanity \u2013 their ability to just sit down and have a yarn. That\u2019s missing these days.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn cabinet, if you had done your work, read your papers, and you were advocating something, he would give you 100% support. He was no dictator. He will go down as one of New Zealand\u2019s best prime ministers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tau Henare was a NZ First minister in the first MMP government, led by Bolger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The above are drawn from written contributions and, where quoted, unless otherwise indicated, as told to Toby Manhire. This post will be updated as further recollections arrive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jim Bolger, prime minister from 1990 to 1997, has died at the age of 90. We asked those…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[492,62261,62262,111,43,139,69,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-81000","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-comments-enabled","9":"tag-dame-jenny-shipley","10":"tag-jim-bolger","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}