Holyoake became leader of the National Party and prime minister two months before the 1957 election, after Holland's resignation due to ill health.

[2] Known for his diplomatic style and "plummy" voice, he was also fondly (or mockingly) known as "Kiwi Keith", a name given to him in childhood to distinguish him from an Australian cousin with the same name.

[4] From the age of 12, having left school after his father's death, Holyoake worked on the family hop and tobacco farm in Riwaka.

[3] The Reform Party, which had strong rural support, selected Holyoake as its candidate for the Motueka seat in the 1931 election.

The 1937 electoral redistribution was unfavourable for him and, when the boundary changes applied at the 1938 election, Holyoake lost his seat to a rising star of the governing Labour Party, Jerry Skinner.

[3] Holyoake twice went to London to re-negotiate price levels on meat and wool products,[3] and in 1955 attended the Food and Agriculture Organization conference in Rome.

The land, which had previously been purchased from Ngāti Tūwharetoa iwi in 1884, was a block of 5,385 acres largely covered in scrub and fern.

Historians attribute the victory to Holyoake's skilful campaigning, particularly his attacks on Minister of Finance Arnold Nordmeyer's so-called "Black Budget" of 1958, which had increased taxes on petrol, cigarettes and liquor.

[14] The report was a damning indictment of past governments' neglect of Māori within society, and Holyoake endeavoured to act on its findings.

[16][15] Holyoake accepted the post-war political consensus; he believed in the necessity of a mixed economy, championing a Keynesian strategy of public investment to maintain demand.

[18] His government's industrial policy brought Holyoake into conflict with union leaders, such as Fintan Patrick Walsh.

The National government's initial response was carefully considered and characterised by Holyoake's cautiousness towards the entire Vietnam question.

"[20] His government preferred minimal involvement, with other South East Asian deployments already having a strain on the New Zealand Defence Force.

Two years prior Holyoake appointed a rising backbencher, Robert Muldoon as Minister of Finance in 1967, although ranked him lowly in his Cabinet.

In response to falling wool prices and balance of payment problems, Muldoon introduced mini-budgets with Holyoake's approval.

[23] Political commentators speculated about when Holyoake would retire, and by the early 1970s his closest allies, including Jack Marshall, were privately encouraging him to step down.

Marshall succeeded him in the ensuing leadership ballot, and Holyoake remained in Cabinet as Minister of Foreign Affairs until National lost office at the end of the year.

In 1974 Marshall resigned as leader after realising that many of his colleagues (including Holyoake) no longer had confidence in him and Muldoon was elected in his place.

[3] In 1977, Holyoake was unexpectedly and controversially appointed Governor-General of New Zealand by Queen Elizabeth II on the advice of the then Prime Minister Robert Muldoon.

The announcement was made by the Queen at the end of her tour of New Zealand on 7 March 1977, from the Royal Yacht HMY Britannia in Lyttelton Harbour.

[28] That suggestion was, in turn, criticised by the government, as Hillary had backed Labour in 1975 as part of the "Citizens for Rowling" campaign.

In particular, Holyoake refused to comment on the 1978 general election, which gave Labour a narrow plurality of votes but a majority of seats in parliament to National.

[30] Social Credit leader Bruce Beetham said Holyoake as governor-general had "...a scrupulous impartiality that confounded the critics of his appointment".

[31] Holyoake twice married Norma Janet Ingram: first in a civil ceremony on 24 September 1934, and again on 11 January 1935 at their Presbyterian church in Motueka.

[34] Holyoake also had a very close and somewhat paternalistic friendship with Marilyn Waring, National's youngest female MP during her tenure.

She quickly entered the Opposition Research Unit as a part-time advisor under George Gair, the Shadow Minister of Housing.

Holyoake, so overjoyed that a woman was willing to run for National in a safe "blue" seat, personally arrived within the hour to Parliament House and offered her the selection without even formally introducing himself.

After she was involuntarily outed by the New Zealand Truth in 1978, Holyoake worked with Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, to quickly downplay the tabloid reports and to protect their friend.