Holyoake became Leader of the Opposition for the next three years.

Keith Holyoake became Prime Minister.

Marshall became increasingly overworked as time went on, with Holyoake giving him more and more cabinet responsibilities.

In early 1957, Holland was persuaded by his party to step down, and Keith Holyoake, his deputy, became Prime Minister.

In 1842, Holyoake became the last person convicted for blasphemy in a public lecture, held in April 1842 at the Cheltenham Mechanics ' Institute, though this had no theological character and the incriminating words were merely a reply to a question addressed to him from the body of the meeting.

Holyoake adopted the word " agnostic " when that became available.

* 1904 – Sir Keith Holyoake, Prime Minister of New Zealand ( d. 1983 )

* Prime Minister Keith Holyoake ( New Zealand )

* February 11 – Sir Keith Holyoake, Prime Minister of New Zealand ( d. 1983 )

( L-R :) Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky ( South Vietnam ), Prime Minister Harold Holt ( Australia ), President Park Chung-hee ( South Korea ), President Ferdinand Marcos ( Philippines ), Prime Minister Keith Holyoake ( New Zealand ), Lt. Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu ( South Vietnam ), Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn ( Thailand ), President Lyndon B. Johnson ( United States )

It was commissioned in 1965, and officially opened by Prime Minister Sir Keith Holyoake on 15 May that year.

The only person to have been both Prime Minister and Governor-General of New Zealand, Holyoake was National Party Prime Minister from 20 September 1957 to 12 December 1957, then again from 12 December 1960 to 7 February 1972.

Holyoake is to date the third longest serving New Zealand Prime Minister ( just under 12 years ), surpassed only by Richard Seddon's 13 years and William Massey's close to 13 years ; he was also the first to be born in the 20th century.

National won the 1949 election and formed the First National Government, new Prime Minister Sidney Holland appointed Holyoake as Minister of Agriculture.

Prime Minister-elect Holyoake leaving Parliament Buildings with the Clerk of the Executive Council, on the way to Government House.

On 2 February 1972 Holyoake announced his resignation, stepping down as Prime Minister to ease the succession for his deputy and friend, Jack Marshall.

In 1977, Holyoake was unexpectedly and controversially appointed Governor-General by Queen Elizabeth II on the advice of the then Prime Minister Robert Muldoon.

This choice was deemed controversial by some, as Holyoake was a sitting Cabinet minister and former Prime Minister.

* Keith Holyoake, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, at Pahiatua.

The first Minister of State in New Zealand was Keith Holyoake, a former Prime Minister.

Of those people, only Holyoake, Marshall, Muldoon, Palmer, and Clark have eventually served as Prime Minister.

Holyoake, however, had insufficient time to establish himself in the public mind as Prime Minister, and lost in the election later that year to Labour, then led by Walter Nash.

Keith Holyoake, Prime Minister 1957 and 1960-1972.

Holyoake retired from the Prime Ministership and from the Party leadership at the beginning of 1972, and his deputy, Jack Marshall, replaced him.

Following a period of ill health, Holland stepped down as Prime Minister in September 1957 and was replaced by Keith Holyoake.

Holyoake was also was for a year ( 1949 – 50 ) in charge of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and was Minister of Marketing until the department was abolished in 1953.

As Minister of Agriculture for eight years Holyoake enhanced his reputation as a level-headed good administrator.

Holyoake appointed a rising backbencher, Robert Muldoon as Minister of Finance in 1967, although ranked him lowly in his Cabinet.

Muldoon appointed Holyoake to the specially created sinecure of Minister of State.

Holyoake House, head office of Co-operatives UK where Green was Chief ExecutiveWithin two weeks of starting work at the Union, Green sat down with other high profile members of the co-operative movement and drafted a letter to Tony Blair.

Holyoake nevertheless underwent six months imprisonment, and the editorship of the Oracle changed hands.

Holyoake and his cabinet was increasingly perceived as tired and worn-out, so shortly before the 1972 elections Holyoake stood aside for his deputy, Jack Marshall, who took steps to reinvigorate the National Party.

Bishop Baines dedicated the Cathedral of St Paul before a congregation of 600, which included the Governor-General Sir Bernard Fergusson and the Prime Minister Keith Holyoake.

Cobham served under three Prime Ministers: Sidney Holland ( 1949 – 1957 ), Keith Holyoake ( 1957 and 1960 – 1972 ) and Walter Nash ( 1957 – 1960 ).

The Reform Party, which had strong rural support, selected Holyoake as its candidate for the Motueka seat in the 1931 election.

In the 1935 election, Holyoake retained his seat under the motto " Follow England and Vote Holyoake " despite a massive swing against the Reform-United coalition.

But in the 1938 election, Holyoake lost his seat to a rising star of the governing Labour Party, Gerry Skinner.

The Leader of the Opposition, Bill Rowling stated that he would remove Holyoake as Governor-General should the Labour Party win the 1978 general election, and openly suggested that he would have appointed Sir Edmund Hillary as Governor-General.

In particular, Holyoake refused to comment on the 1978 general election, which gave Labour a narrow plurality of votes but a majority to National.

Under National, New Zealand contributed a small number of troops, and Holyoake strongly defended this decision in the election campaign.

As Deputy leader of the National Party, Holyoake was acting prime minister whenever Holland was overseas.