He also became involved in the organisational wing of the National Party, and briefly served on the parliamentary staff of Keith Holyoake from 1958 to 1960.

[5][6] Gair then went across the bridge and contested and won the North Shore nomination from retiring National MP Dean Eyre.

After National's defeat party leader Jack Marshall appointed Gair as Shadow Minister of Customs.

[11] Gair had supported Marshall for the leadership and liked him on a personal level, however by early 1974 had come to the belief that National would have a better chance of winning the next election under the then deputy leader Robert Muldoon.

[12] When Muldoon became leader he promoted Gair from 13th to 6th in the caucus rankings and switched him from Customs to Shadow Minister of Housing instead.

Barry Gustafson, in his history of the National Party, called Gair "the most effective strategist of the parliamentary pro-abortion lobby".

[15] In 1980, when a number of party dissidents began to plot against Muldoon's leadership, Gair was on the list of potential replacements.

The dissidents eventually decided to encourage Brian Talboys, the party's deputy leader, to make a leadership bid (now called the "Colonels' Coup").

Gair was not involved in planning this bid, but was supportive of it, and worked hard to convince Talboys that a challenge was a good idea.

Gair continued to advocate a challenge, but Talboys was adamant that preserving party unity was more important than curbing Muldoon's damaging leadership style.

[17] After National's defeat in 1984 Muldoon designated Gair Shadow Minister of Transport, Railways, Civil Aviation and Meteorological Services.

This pressure resulted in a scheduled leadership election being brought forward from February 1985 to November 1984 despite Muldoon's objections.

As two of the most experienced people in the National Party, the two were able to mobilise substantial support in favour of McLay's main rival, Jim Bolger.

[30] In 2010 Gair completed a master's degree at Auckland University of Technology, with a thesis on managing change as a minister of the Crown supervised by Marilyn Waring and Grant Gillon.