John Winston Howard OM AC SSI (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the second-longest in history, behind only Sir Robert Menzies, who served for eighteen non-consecutive years. Following this loss, Howard retired from politics, but has remained active in political discourse, and published his autobiography, Lazarus Rising, in 2010.