Member of Parliament

In 1863 he was unsuccessful in the 1863 by-election for Dunedin and Suburbs South. Later in an 1863 by-election he was elected a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the Dunedin and Suburbs North electorate.^[7]

In the 1866 election, he was defeated by William Murison in the Waikouaiti electorate on Wednesday, 28 February.^[8][9] It is unclear why Vogel stood in Waikouaiti as two days earlier, he had been returned unopposed at the nomination for the Goldfields electorate.^[7][10] On retiring from the provincial government in 1869, he joined the William Fox ministry as colonial treasurer,^[2] afterward holding the posts of postmaster-general, commissioner of customs, and telegraph commissioner at various times.^[4]

In 1870, as Colonial Treasurer he introduced his "grand go-ahead policy" or great Public Works policy to revitalise and develop the country by borrowing overseas to build railways, roads and telegraph lines and to attract immigrants.

The Fox ministry having been forced to resign, Vogel carried a vote of no confidence in their successors, and in October 1872, returned to power as leader in the Lower House, colonial treasurer and postmaster-general. He represented several electorates throughout the colony: Dunedin and Suburbs North 1863–1866, Goldfields in Otago 1866–1870, Auckland East 1871–1875, Wanganui 1876 (resigned) and Christchurch North 1884–1889 (resigned).

Vogel successfully contested the 1884 election in Christchurch North against John Crewes.^[11]

Vogel was the first Member of Parliament to be named in New Zealand.^[12] He was named on 15 November 1887 by the Speaker of the House Maurice O'Rorke for saying that his fellow Member Robert Thompson was 'want of manners' in a debate about Vogel's use of constabulary for household purposes – a charge he denied.^[13]

Premier of New Zealand

Vogel was premier from 1873 to 1875 and again in 1876. From 1876 to 1881, he was agent-general for New Zealand in London, and, in 1884, he was again a member of the government of the colony. During his political career, Vogel worked generally successfully for reconciliation with the Māori people. In 1887, he introduced the first women's suffrage Bill to Parliament, but suffrage was not granted until 1893. He was knighted in 1875. He finally gave up the colonial office in 1887; from which date he lived in England and was the Agent-General for New Zealand.

Vogel is best remembered for his "Great Public Works" scheme of the 1870s. Before 1870, New Zealand was a country largely dominated by provincial interests and pork-barrel politics. After Vogel, as colonial treasurer, proposed borrowing the massive sum of 10 million pounds, New Zealand developed a significant infrastructure of roads, railways and communication, all administered by central government.

Vogel is also noteworthy as one of the few practising Jewish prime ministers outside Israel. Since Vogel, two other New Zealanders of Jewish descent have held the premiership: Francis Bell, an Anglican who briefly became prime minister in May 1925; and John Key, New Zealand's prime minister between 2008 and 2016 who was not religious despite attending synagogue as a child on occasion.^[14] Benjamin Disraeli, of Jewish descent but Anglican, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom contemporaneously to Vogel's premiership.