The main intrigue, of course, is the fact that he's stepping down at a time both he and National are still enjoying considerable support. Key's preferred Prime Minister rating had slumped a bit, but was still streets ahead of any alternative.
However, unless he makes a mother-of-all U-turns, and actually does what the abdicating David Lange, after he'd made his resignation announcement, jokingly told his successor Geoffrey Palmer ("Geoffrey, I've changed my mind" ), then all that remains is to tot up his legacy.
At a tad over eight years as incumbent, he was already the eighth longest serving Prime Minister in New Zealand history.
If National had won a fourth successive term, and Key remained leader for just one more year, he would have shot up to fourth, behind Sir Keith Holyoake. (If he had completed the fourth term, he would have also eclipsed Holyoake to be third longest serving PM after King Dick Seddon and Farmer Bill Massey.)
Perhaps if John Key had taken a leaf out of Kiwi Keith's book on how to strike a healthy work/life balance, he might have made another term.
At the then prime ministerial residence at Pipitea St in Thorndon, man-of-the-land Keith hand-dug and maintained an extensive vege patch that provided most of the household needs. Keeping the dirt under his fingernails may have been a better, not to mention more productive, de-stresser than warming the seat on a golf cart.
The avuncular Keith and the affable John both struck chords with the "ordinary" Kiwi and engendered high public approval. But there were other similarities between the two.
Despite the usual arrays of disasters and challenging political issues (and there were some biggies - GFC, Christchurch earthquakes, et al), both presided through times of relative prosperity and stability, with reasonable majorities to support their major initiatives.
But somewhat sadly, their major legacies are that - well, simply that they were Prime Minister for as long as they were.
The political status quo prevails until opposing forces summon the will and/or the resources to change it, and why conservative parties tend to hold the middle ground for longer periods.
Part of this equation, too, is that these parties develop very pragmatic skills for simply staying in power. But the down side is - as demonstrated by both the Holyoake and Key governments - that excessively side-saddling public approval means long-term initiatives don't get much oxygen.
The disappointment is not that both men didn't make a reasonable fist of the job. It's that they had the support, strategic position, and opportunity to drive the country forward in sustainable, meaningful ways, but ended up putting their Admiral's telescope to a blind eye on the big picture.
It was reported that one of Key's biggest regrets was not getting a new flag in place. A few years down the track, when John Key is sitting in a boardroom somewhere, and the mind starts to wander from dry corporate matters at hand, he may well be having a few more substantial regrets than not getting the logo changed on a scrap of cloth.
Given the cards he had in his hand, and New Zealand's wealth of natural assets to work with, I suspect he'll deeply rue not upping the ante on the key longer term issues when he had the chance.
