1976: Elected MP at the age of 23, replacing his late father and former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein in the Pekan parliamentary seat in Pahang.

1978: Made deputy minister of energy, telecommunications and post, under Tun Hussein Onn, becoming the youngest deputy minister in the country.

1982: Appointed Menteri Besar of Pahang, the country's youngest.

1986: Made minister of culture, youth and sports in Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Cabinet.

1991: Became defence minister. 1993: Elected vice-president of Umno, holding the post until 2009.

1995: Appointed as education minister.

1999: Suffered a near-defeat in the general election, keeping his seat by a margin of just 241 votes.

2000: Reappointed defence minister.

2004: Became deputy prime minister to Tun Abdullah Badawi.

2008: Made finance minister, and won the Umno presidency uncontested.

2009: Became prime minister.

2013: His Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition won the general election. But the opposition won the popular vote, the first time in Malaysia's history.

May 2018: BN lost the general election to Pakatan Harapan in a historic defeat. Najib Razak resigned as Umno president and BN chairman. July

2018-Feb 2019: Arrested and charged over abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal. March

2019: Helped campaign for BN at the by-election in Semenyih, Selangor, which BN won. Also stumped for victorious by-elections in Tanjung Piai, Johor, in November last year and in Kimanis, Sabah, in January this year. July

2019: Appointed chairman of the BN advisory board.