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The rumors WERE true: how Jacinda Ardern has been dogged by speculation that she was about to step down as Prime Minister and trade her role for a quiet life in the country with her fiancé Clarke.
- Jacinda Ardern had recently denied that she was resigning
- Rumors had repeatedly claimed that she would retire.
- She insisted in October that she was “not going anywhere”.
- On Thursday he said he ‘didn’t have enough in the tank anymore’
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has repeatedly denied that she would resign before the next general election despite ongoing rumors that she was about to.
The Kiwi Labor leader shocked the world on Thursday by announcing that she will resign no later than February 7 after five years in office.
But the rumors began in earnest in October, when government circles erupted with gossip. Ardern, 42, was about to resign.
She responded angrily to the speculation at the time, insisting categorically that she would stay and fight in the October 2023 election despite plummeting polls.
“I heard this,” the New Zealand prime minister said in a radio interview late last October. ‘This rumor has been floating around for my entire five-year time in government.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has repeatedly denied that she would resign before the next general election despite constant rumors that she was about to step out.
‘I have no plans to change my role as leader, I’m not going anywhere. I’ve said this on the show several times.
“There are rumors going around and it’s just part of the paper, but this isn’t the first time I’ve had this and it also came up in the last election.
“I am the Labor leader and I have no plans to change that.”
She also dismissed speculation that she and her partner Clarke Gayford were ready to give up the rat race for a quiet new life in rural New Plymouth on the North Island’s west coast.
She added: “While I’m here I might as well dismiss the rumor that I’m moving to New Plymouth, as lovely as it is, I don’t intend to move either.”
The leader has enjoyed greater popularity abroad than at home in the face of harsh Covid lockdowns during the pandemic and rising inflation and cost of living.
But the prime minister said she faced similar rumors ahead of the 2017 election when a whisper campaign claimed she was too ill to be prime minister.
“I think that reflects a time when I had an unfortunate complication with tonsillitis, something called angina,” he added.
‘That was the basis on which it started. New Zealand, in different ways, is riddled with gossip and rumours, and I’m happy to respond to things like that.
“But ultimately what I hope is that people see me for who I am.
She also dismissed speculation that she and her partner Clarke Gayford (pictured) were ready to give up the rat race for a quiet new life in rural New Plymouth on the North Island’s west coast.
“I am sincere, I face problems as they arise, I am someone who has the courage to be in politics in the first place, let alone take on this job in these exceptional circumstances.
‘I’m strong enough for this job.’
However, he admitted on Thursday that he no longer had the “heart and energy” to continue in the role.
His resignation takes effect on Sunday if the Labor Party can choose his replacement, or on February 7 if the process drags on.
‘I’m human. Politicians are human. We give everything we can for as long as we can, and then it’s time. And for me, it’s time,’ he said.
I know what this job requires. And I know I don’t have enough in the tank anymore to do it justice.