The advantage Bill English has when he forms his new Government next week is that he won't be burdened by high expectations.

Reputation studiously rebuilt after a political mauling 14 years ago, the new PM now has chance to right the record, writes Claire Trevett.

COMMENT: As we farewell a gifted PM we are about to get a more combative one. John Key's politics have been emollient, Bill English is abrasive.

Paula Bennett is a handful of votes away from becoming New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister.

New Zealand's new Prime Minister is a former farmer and literature student from smalltown Southland who once described himself as "specialising in being boring".

Incoming Prime Minister Bill English has confirmed that Wayne Eagleson will remain in the influential position of the prime minister's chief of staff.

COMMENT: For a decade National didn't have to think about a leader, now they will be scrambling to make sense of it all, writes Barry Soper.

COMMENT: The stable predictable thing is English for PM, Bennett the deputy and Joyce for finance. Not my ideal, but safe. But is it enough for election year?

COMMENT: Alas, poor John, an ominous rumbling noise started in the bowels of the party's massive backbench rump. It could not be ignored.

The National Party is inviting Kiwis to thank John Key for his 10 years leading the party and eight years' service as Prime Minister.

Fevered lobbying to become the next PM has begun in the National caucus as Bill English, Judith Collins and Jonathan Coleman vie for position.

National Party politics - and, by extension, New Zealand politics - have suddenly become very uncertain.

COMMENT: I'm not gonna lie. I'm glad to see the back end of him. Clothed, of course, writes Rachel Stewart.

COMMENT: National MPs should think twice before automatically anointing as prime minister a member of Key's kitchen cabinet, Fran O'Sullivan writes.

The contest for New Zealand's next PM is shaping up as a race between an veteran politician, a lower-profile minister, and a wild card.

Leadership contests are usually damaging for political parties - but National's will be mercifully brief, writes Audrey Young.

It was the first time in Parliament since PM John Key announced he was going and Labour's front bench was a 10-metre-wide grin of schadenfreude.

National MP Nikki Kaye has returned to Parliament for the first time since her cancer diagnosis, confirming she will stand again in Auckland Central.

COMMENT: If there were family reasons for John Key's decision to stand down, they were surely the demands of his art-school daughter or YouTube son.

John Key's bombshell announcement yesterday has thrown New Zealand politics into turmoil.

Labour appear quietly thrilled about the prospect of a National Party without John Key.

Key says there is no secret scandal behind his decision to resign, saying he wanted to rewrite the rule book on leadership departures and do so on his own terms.

National faced a more uncertain future without Key at the helm, says University of Auckland political scientist Raymond Miller.

COMMENT: Winning that elusive fourth term in office has just become much harder, writes Newstalk ZB's political editor Barry Soper.

His body language suggested he was speaking honestly, an expert says.

Bill English is staying silent on whether he wants to be New Zealand's next Prime Minister and Judith Collins has not ruled out a bid to replace Key.

Leader of the Opposition Andrew Little has paid tribute to outgoing Prime Minister John Key, saying he has "served New Zealand well".

John Key's shock resignation has resonated around the globe with media and leaders from Australia and as far afield as China, the United States and Russia and France broadcasting the news online.

A terrible feeling of deja vu appears to have come over Prime Minister John Key. Here we sit, over a cuppa in a cafe in the centre of the Epsom electorate.

Key led his party to win the election in November 2008 after nine years of a Labour-run Government.