Simon Bridges
|
The Honourable Simon Bridges MP |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Tauranga |
|
|
Assumed office 8 December 2008 |
|
| Preceded by | Bob Clarkson |
| Majority | 11,742 (31.69%) |
| Minister for Economic Development | |
|
Assumed office 20 December 2016 |
|
| Prime Minister | Bill English |
| Preceded by | Steven Joyce |
| 17th Minister of Transport | |
|
Assumed office 6 October 2014 |
|
| Prime Minister |
John Key Bill English |
| Preceded by | Gerry Brownlee |
| Minister for Communications | |
|
Assumed office 20 December 2016 |
|
| Prime Minister | Bill English |
| Preceded by | Amy Adams |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 1976 (age 40) Auckland, New Zealand |
| Political party | National |
| Spouse(s) | Natalie Bridges |
| Relations | Simon O'Connor (brother-in-law) |
| Children | Two sons |
| Residence | Tauranga |
| Alma mater | University of Auckland, University of Oxford |
| Profession | Senior Crown prosecutor |
| Religion | Anglican |
| Website | simonbridges |
Simon Joseph Bridges (born October 1976) is a New Zealand politician and lawyer. Bridges has been the National Party Member of Parliament for Tauranga since the 2008 election. He is the Deputy Leader of the House, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Communications, Minister of Transport, and Associate Minister of Finance.
Simon Bridges was born in October 1976 in Auckland, the youngest of six children. His father, a Māori of Ngāti Maniapoto descent, was a Baptist minister, and his mother, a New Zealand European from Waihi, was a primary school teacher. He has three-sixteenths Māori ancestry and is related to former Labour Cabinet Minister Koro Wētere.
Bridges grew up in Te Atatu, West Auckland, and attended Rutherford College. There, he was taught by future Labour Education Minister Chris Carter, and became head boy of the college. He went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts in political science and history, and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) at the University of Auckland.
Bridges began his legal career as a litigation lawyer in a major Auckland law firm, Kensington Swan. He moved to Tauranga in 2001 to take up a position as a Crown prosecutor in the District and High Courts. During this time, he took leave to travel to the United Kingdom to study at the London School of Economics, and later to complete a postgraduate law degree at St Catherine's College, Oxford; he also worked as an intern in the British House of Commons. As a Crown prosecutor in Tauranga, Bridges mainly worked on jury trials. Bridges ended his legal career in 2008, when he was nominated by the National Party to stand for election to the New Zealand Parliament.
...
Wikipedia