Colourful and controversial, with a killer eyebrow raise - she may be best known as "Crusher" but Judith Collins' nearly 20 years in politics cannot be summed up so succinctly.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Her 499-day reign as National's leader came to an end yesterday after a vote of no confidence from her caucus. She will stay on as Papakura's MP in the next chapter of a colourful career in politics.
She has previously been the minister for ACC, Corrections, energy and resources, ethnic affairs, ethnic communities, justice, police, revenue and veterans' affairs.
Getting started in politics
Collins was first elected to Parliament in July 2002 as MP for Clevedon, later switching to the Papakura electorate in 2008. A lawyer by profession, she saw the halls of power as a place to shape good laws that could in turn shape good attitudes.
She believed in law and order, and this shapes her legacy - the nickname Crusher Collins sprang from a crackdown on boyracers when she was Police Minister in 2009.
The crusher resigned as minister heading into the 2014 election after a series of scandals that year. The final blow was the Dirty Politics allegations that she was involved in a campaign to discredit then-Serious Fraud Office boss Adam Feeley.
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