> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://goodoil.news/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Face of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/face-of-the-day-1316/
- Published: 2025-10-16T17:30:47.000Z
- Updated: 2025-10-16T17:30:47.000Z
- Description: The last of the true farmer prime ministers, he led New Zealand for seven years and the National Party for 11 years.
- Author: Good Oil Staff
- Tags: NZ Politics, Face of the Day

> Jim Bolger, who left school aged 15 with no qualifications and rose to become prime minister, has died, aged 90.  
>  
> The last of the true farmer prime ministers, he led New Zealand for seven years and the National Party for 11 years.  
>  
> Bolger had been undergoing dialysis several times a day since suffering kidney failure last year. [But he celebrated his 90th birthday in May with his wife, Joan, and nine children](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/former-prime-minister-jim-bolger-is-about-to-turn-90/IKDPDVWZTCPVPMJ2TRSANDNXXE/?ref=goodoil.news).  
>  
> One of Bolger’s most important legacies was to conclude the first of the Treaty of Waitangi settlements between the Crown and iwi.  
>  
> Bolger has suggested that his Celtic history, including “the oppressive landlords of Ireland”, enabled him to empathise with the hurts and concerns of Māori and groups who had not had a fair deal.  
>  
> “Something within me – perhaps it is my Irish heritage, which is that of a nation oppressed for centuries – demanded that I listen to the Māori story, speak with those who wanted to talk about the grievances and determine in due course what could be done,” Bolger wrote in his book *A View from the Top*.  
>  
> Bolger also ushered in the MMP electoral system, although it was first advanced before he took office.  
>  
> [He was forthright in his views,](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/co-governance-policy-jim-bolgers-challenge-to-jacinda-ardern/T53SLA5JOFDF3CU6E5SKCVLSYA/?ref=goodoil.news) occasionally expressed with a sense of hubris, and acquired the nickname “The Great Helmsman”.  
>  
> It was given to him with a sense of irony after a visit to New Zealand’s America’s Cup base in San Diego, but was welcomed by his press team because it replaced the unflattering “potato head” and “spud” nicknames.  
>  
> NZ Herald

[Read More](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/jim-bolger-obituary-the-man-who-left-school-at-15-and-went-on-to-become-pm-his-legacy-is-remarkable/XS5EUZQRIRF6NBHFIJ7VTDT574/?ref=goodoil.news)