In the
2005 election, Guy was a candidate for the
National Party, standing in the
Ōtaki electorate and being ranked 39th on the party list. He narrowly lost the election to Labour's
Darren Hughes, by a margin of 1.00% or 382 votes but entered Parliament as a
list MP. Guy's first three years in Parliament were in Opposition. He was a member of the
Primary Production select committee for much of this term, and was a member of the Privileges and Standing Orders committees for about seven months until the 2008 election. When
John Key became National leader in 2006, Guy became the party's junior
whip and an associate spokesperson for agriculture. In February 2008, he was promoted to
senior whip and continued in that position until June 2009. In the
2008 election he was again the candidate for
Ōtaki, this time defeating Hughes by 1,354 votes. Guy held the electorate three subsequent times, with his greatest majority being 7,782 votes over the Labour candidate in 2014.
Ministerial career On 15 June 2009 Guy was selected as the new
Minister of Internal Affairs, a position outside of the Cabinet, to replace
Richard Worth after the latter resigned following allegations of
sexual harassment. Guy was involved in a controversy that was revealed in 2017. It emerged that, in 2011 as the Minister of Internal Affairs, he had granted New Zealand citizenship to US billionaire
Peter Thiel after only 12 days residence (split over 4 trips in 5 years) in New Zealand. The normal residency requirement for a permanent resident to gain citizenship is 1350 days over 5 years. Thiel was granted citizenship by Guy under "exceptional circumstances" despite Thiel not having lived in the country previously and not intending to do so in the future. Thiel was the first adult to be granted New Zealand citizenship without meeting residency requirements. On 14 December 2011, following the
2011 New Zealand general election, Guy was sworn in as the
Minister of Immigration,
Minister for Racing,
Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Associate Minister for Primary Industries. Later that term, in January 2013, he was promoted to the role of
Minister for Primary Industries, while continuing as the Minister for Racing. During his period as minister the
2013 Fonterra botulism scare and recall occurred.
Final term Guy lost his ministerial roles when the National Party was not returned to government at the
2017 general election. In opposition, he was initially the party's spokesperson for primary industries and sat on Parliament's primary production committee. From March 2018 until his announcement on 30 July 2019 that he would not seek re-election
in 2020, he was the spokesman for agriculture, biosecurity and food safety. From August 2019 until his retirement, he sat on the environment committee. == Political views ==