Helen Clark "The New Zealand Herald". In a close race she received 25 percent of the vote, ahead of Victoria Cross recipient Willie Apiata at 21 percent. Then Prime Minister John Key said he was not surprised by the poll, saying "... she is well thought of as a New Zealand Prime Minister." Clark was the first defeated Labour Prime Minister to immediately resign the party leadership rather than lead it in Opposition. She served as the shadow foreign affairs spokesperson in the Shadow Cabinet of Phil Goff for several months before retiring from Parliament in April 2009 to accept a position
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dutch ministers used to be responsible to the Monarch and the ministers were taking turns to fill the position of the Prime Minister who had little if any control over the other ministers. The Prime Minister's role gained importance when ministers became responsible to the parliament and the position became mostly reserved for the leader of the biggest political party in the House of Representatives. Still, because the position holds limited powers compared to other neighboring parliamentary democracies, the Prime Minister role is described as "primus inter pares" ("first among equals"). Following the constitutional review of 1983, the position of