Prime Minister of New Zealand of the few countries in the world to have had three female heads of government, and one of only three countries to have had a female head of government directly succeed another. The first female prime minister was Jenny Shipley of the National Party, who replaced Jim Bolger in late 1997; Shipley was succeeded by Helen Clark in 1999. Jacinda Ardern, the second female leader of the Labour Party after Clark, became prime minister in 2017. On becoming the Colony of New Zealand in 1841, New Zealand was directly governed by a governor, appointed by the Colonial Office in Britain.
Helen Clark (British politician) Helen Clark (British politician) Helen Rosemary Clark, previously known as Helen Brinton, née Helen Rosemary Dyche, (b. 23 December 1954, Derby) is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was a Labour Member of Parliament for Peterborough from 1997 until the 2005 general election, when she lost her seat to Conservative Stewart Jackson. Clark went to Spondon Park Grammar School (became Spondon School in 1971 when merged with Spondon House School, and became West Park Community School in 1989) in Spondon, Derby. Clark was educated at the University of Bristol gaining a Hons 2/1 in English Literature, then an MA