2nd LD Writethru: Finance Minister Bill English secures New Zealand leadership

Finance Minister Bill English was set Thursday to become New Zealand's next prime minister when they last remaining contender for the job pulled out of the race.

Rival and Health Minister Jonathan Coleman conceded defeat and congratulated English after 30 of the ruling center-right National Party's 59-strong parliamentary caucus publicly stated their support for English.

Earlier Thursday, Judith Collins, who holds the Police and Corrections portfolios, withdrew her candidacy and threw her support behind English.

The caucus is expected to officially elect English at a meeting on Dec. 12 when they will also select a new deputy prime minister.

The race for that post, which would open with English's promotion, is being contested, so far, by Transport Minister Simon Bridges and Climate Change Issues Minister Paula Bennett.

Outgoing Prime Minister John Key had endorsed English in his shock resignation speech on Monday, leading commentators to believe there might be a seamless transition, before the two contenders emerged.

English has offered Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce the key finance portfolio, should he become prime minister.

However, English declined to discuss policy changes or other cabinet appointments when he answered questions at a standup press conference broadcast by Radio New Zealand after Coleman's concession.

"I won't be talking about being a prime minister until I am one," said English.

English, 54, was a farmer in the far south of the South Island and policy analyst at the New Zealand Treasury before being elected to Parliament in 1990.

He became National Party leader in 2001 and led the party to its worst ever general election defeat in 2002.

He has been deputy to Key and Finance Minister since the National Party was returned to power in 2008.

The government must go back to the polls by September next year, although the new prime minister might seek an early general election.

English told Radio New Zealand Tuesday that the circumstances had changed since 2002.

"The National Party was different, the political environment was quite different, I've worked closely with the prime minister, learnt an awful lot in those 15 years and I think it's partly because of that experience can see the opportunities ahead," he said.

In terms of personality and background, English is commonly perceived to be as different from Key as he could be.

The self-deprecating Key has sold himself and the country over eight years in power on his outward optimism and ability to shrug off trouble, traits that have carried him on a rags-to-riches rise.

Key grew up in a state house in Christchurch before studying commerce at Canterbury University and going straight into investment banking.

It was a career that took him to Singapore and London as a foreign exchange dealer for Merrill Lynch, and made his fortune, but also earned him the nickname of "The Smiling Assassin" after he was told to sack 400 staff at the company's London office.

He was invited in 1999 to sit on the Foreign Exchange Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and he also studied management at Harvard University on two occasions, all of which established a reputation for sound business sense.

English, on the other hand, has established a reputation as a dour policy wonk, with the gruff exterior of a stereotypical New Zealand farmer.

But together they formed one of the most rock-solid political partnerships in recent New Zealand history.

They will remembered for steering New Zealand through its economic recovery after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and the disastrous Canterbury earthquakes that killed 185 people in February 2011.

Treasury forecasts out Thursday confirmed English's handling of the books has resulted in expectations of growing government surpluses, although critics say that has been achieved by running down and starving public services.

English also faces a raft of problems, many of them persisting from the previous center-left Labour Party government.

The predominant challenge is a ballooning housing crisis that is rippling out from Auckland, New Zealand's largest city with a third of the population, as well as child poverty, and persistent criticisms of expanding economic inequality.

Most recently doctors, police, teachers and other essential public servants have been voicing growing agitation at diminishing resources after eight years of government belt-tightening.

With his center-right National Party rarely polling much short of 50 percent, unprecedented for a third-term government in New Zealand, but its success is often attributed to Key's personal popularity.

English might find a popular mandate might be tougher to earn than backing of his caucus colleagues. Endit