And just like that, she’s gone. In one of the biggest shocks to hit New Zealand politics since that late night in 1984 when a clearly inebriated Robert Muldoon called a doomed snap election, Jacinda Ardern has announced her resignation as New Zealand prime minister after five years in power.
Some may argue that she is ‘getting out at the top’. But anyone with serious knowledge of New Zealand politics can recognise the sight of a prime minister getting out before an election they feel they are unable to win. Kiwi political leaders (as with our cousins in Australia) have a proud tradition of leaving office (either voluntarily or not) if defeat appears to be on the horizon.
History will remember Ardern’s time in office as evidence that one cannot govern with good intentions alone
And there are certainly clouds on the horizon for the Kiwi Labour party. After sky high approval ratings for much of Ardern’s
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