Although National was re-elected in the , it was by the narrowest of margins (one seat) and many people within the party believed that Richardson's presence was damaging to National. In addition, Bolger and his allies had still not been reconciled with her. In order to partially reflect the strong discontent in the electorate with the reform process (National arguably only won because the opposition vote was split between three parties) Richardson lost her role as Minister of Finance, and was offered the role of Minister of Justice. Richardson refused, preferring to take a role on the back-benches then called a by-election. She was replaced by Bill Birch. In 1993, Richardson was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.