A man with politics in his blood

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Newly appointed minister Nathan Guy comes from traditional National stock with farming and local politics in his blood.

Mr Guy was appointed Internal Affairs Minister and a raft of other roles in the wake of Richard Worth's fall from the executive and Parliament.

He lives in the rural part of the Otaki electorate, which takes in part of the Kapiti Coast and Horowhenua region, owning a large dairy farm outside Levin.

Mr Guy said his family have been farming in the area for generations.

There is also similar record of local government service.

Mr Guy was on the Horowhenua District Council for eight years before becoming an MP.

His grandfather was chairman of the area's county council and his father was the first mayor of the Horowhenua District Council.

Born in 1970, Mr Guy was educated in Levin, attending Waiopehu College.

He gained a bachelor of agriculture and diploma of rural studies from Massey University.

In 2000, Mr Guy was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to study beef exports to the United States.

Mr Guy entered Parliament in 2005 on the party list after narrowly losing to Labour's Otaki MP Darren Hughes.

In 2008 Mr Guy won the seat with a healthy majority of 1354.

Mr Guy said he was surprised at being chosen by Prime Minister John Key and had no idea why he had been picked ahead of other colleagues.

Craig Foss and Chester Borrows had been picked by some as potential new ministers.

Mr Guy said his time as junior and then senior whip in both opposition and Government had given him useful skills for a minister.

"That's a great stepping stone to understand the parliamentary process," Mr Guy said.

"I look forward to getting involved with the executive and believe I can make a real difference."

Party whips are responsible for organising MPs and while well known in Parliament's corridors they have a very low public profile.

Mr Guy said he believed his whip's role had prepared him for the public scrutiny a minister can sometimes receive, but he did not want to talk about Dr Worth and the scandal that seen him rise in the Government ranks.

He believed he sat around the centre of the political spectrum covered by the National Party, but said "it is very hard to put me in a box".

He is marred to Erica and they have three children - Henry, Francesca and Jeremy.

All three children are under five and Mr Guy said it was "crazy at the moment" at home.

"I have an amazing wife, Erica is a rock in my political career and I am very lucky to have such a supportive wife.'

The hours he had to put in at work were hard on his family, but he was better off than some MPs who also had to travel a long way to get home.

- NZPA