Simon Bridges is a former lawyer and a sitting Member of Parliament. His father was a Baptist minister of Maori (Ngati Maniapoto) and Pakeha descent. His mother was a primary school teacher, of proud Yorkshire heritage. After graduating from Auckland University, Bridges received a Bachelor of Civil Law from Oxford. Bridges also studied at the London School of Economics and interned at the British House of Commons. In 2008 he was elected as the MP for Tauranga. Bridges served as a Minister in government from 2012 to 2017 under Prime Ministers John Key and Bill English, before serving as the leader of the National Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2018 and 2020. He was the first major political party leader in New Zealand with Maori ancestry. He lives in Tauranga with his wife, Natalie, and their three children.