UPDATED: 11.50am: Party President Peter Goodfellow has announced Bill English and Paula Bennett are the new leader and deputy leader of the National Party.

They will serve as National's 12th leadership team in its 80 years, and will soon travel to Government House to be sworn in as New Zealand's 39th Prime Minister and 18th Deputy Prime Minister.

'I am incredibly proud of the strength and unity displayed by the National caucus during the leadership transition over the last week,” says Peter.

'Bill and Paula are outstanding leaders who will provide a good mixture of experience and fresh thinking. Under their leadership, New Zealanders will continue to benefit from the stable government they expect, along with a dedicated focus on delivering results for families and businesses.

'We are incredibly grateful for John Key's remarkable leadership of National and as New Zealand's Prime Minister. He is widely admired here and abroad, and we wish him and his family well for life after politics.

'We are regarded as the best organised centre-right party in the world, and I know this will continue under Bill and Paula's leadership.”

He says National remains as committed as ever to providing strong leadership growing the economy, creating jobs, and allowing the Government to invest in world-class services like schools, healthcare and infrastructure.

'I know everyone in National and across the country will be wishing our new prime minister and deputy prime minister the best and look forward to working with them to ensure New Zealand remains the fantastic little country it is today.”

EARLIER: Today the era of John Key ends, as the National Party caucus appoints a new prime minister and deputy prime minister.

At 11am, National MPs will go into their caucus meeting, where they are expected to make Bill English their new leader and with Paula Bennett the deputy PM.

The man who once led National to their worst-ever electoral defeat now finds himself poised to step into the role the public refused him in 2002. How he will fare in the run up to the 2017 election remains to be seen.

Paula Bennett will become the second female deputy prime minister, after Helen Clark, and the first female in the National Party to hold the title. She will also be the first woman of Maori descent to hold the position.

Both candidates faced competition for the roles last week, but after receiving public support form a significant number of National MPs, their opponents were convinced the battle was lost.

What the frontbench will look like under Bill English is uncertain at this point, but he has already said Steven Joyce will be his choice for Minister of Finance.

A press conference is expected to be held after the meeting, before the new prime minister and his deputy head to Government House to be appointed formally by the Governor-General.