other National MPs, Tolley did not escape the collapse of the party's vote that year, and so did not return to Parliament as a list MP. In the 2005 general election, Tolley successfully contested the East Coast electorate, including Whakatāne, Ōhope, Ōpōtiki, and Gisborne districts, beating Labour candidate Moana Mackey, daughter of the previous East Coast MP Janet Mackey. She held the electorate for four subsequent elections until her retirement in 2020. She served as the first woman National Party whip from December 2006 until February 2008 when she became the party's Education spokesperson. Minister of Education: 2008–2011 The National Party formed a government after the 2008 general election and Tolley was appointed Minister of Education, the first woman to hold that position. The key policy introduced during her term was introduction of the National Standards programme that measured children's progress against the curriculum in reading, writing and mathematics, in order to increase schools' accountability. The controversial proposals were opposed by many teachers and school principals, some of whom refused to implement the standards. In January 2010, Tolley's responsibilities for tertiary education were reassigned to Steven Joyce, with Prime Minister John Key stating that this would allow Tolley to focus on the implementation of national standards. In June 2010, Tolley expressed concerns about a Parliamentary Library research paper that was critical of National Standards, calling it "unprofessional", "highly political" and so biased it could have been written by the union opposing the policy. Such papers are required by the Parliamentary Library to be politically neutral. A month later the New Zealand Principals Federation voted to support regional associations which boycotted training for National Standards. Tolley reminded principals that in her view it would be quicker and give better results to contact herself or the Ministry of Education with concerns about the changes, than to speak through the media. The stand-off between Tolley and teachers was embarrassing for the Government and resulted in Cabinet changes after National was re-elected in November 2011. Hekia Parata was made Education Minister while Tolley was demoted in the Cabinet rankings, becoming Minister of Corrections and Police, succeeding Judith Collins who was promoted to Minister of Justice. Minister of Police and Minister of Corrections: 2011–2014 In March 2012, one of her first major announcements as the Minister of Corrections was the proposed closure of the old prisons in Wellington and New Plymouth. She also said that