Tremain was first elected to parliament in the
2005 election, when he won the
Napier electorate, beating incumbent
Russell Fairbrother by 3951 votes. This was the first time that National had won Napier for more than 50 years. In the
2008 election, Tremain retained the electorate with an increased majority. After the election of the
50th New Zealand Parliament, Tremain was appointed a Minister outside Cabinet taking over the roles of Civil Defence from
John Carter and
Craig Foss, and the role of Consumer Affairs which had been held until the election by Simon Power. He was replaced as Chief Whip of the National party by
Michael Woodhouse, a List MP based in Dunedin. On 3 April 2012 Chris Tremain was promoted into Cabinet following the resignation of
Nick Smith and gained the portfolio of
Internal Affairs. On 30 September 2013 Tremain announced that he would not contest the 2014 election. On leaving parliament Tremain was granted the right to retain the title of
Honourable. ==References==