Riddle me... Jacinda Ardern’s fall from grace

How does one fall from the giddy heights of national treasure and international acclaim to the depths of national chagrin and scorn? The praise of the world’s media for then New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, in the wake of the tragic shootings at the Al Noor Mosque, and Linwood Islamic Centre, in Christchurch (NZ) during March 2019, made her celebrity overnight.

Ardern, head covered in the Islamic fashion, offering support to the victims and their families, calmly met the intensity of that global media furore in a ‘textbook’ media response. Encouraging “sympathy and love for all Muslim communities,” and saying she would “never use the gunman’s name,” taking away the infamy that he craved for his supremacist beliefs, she struck a chord, as her ‘100 per cent Pure,’ New Zealand had been violated and Ardern represented the nation’s rage impeccably.

First elected as an MP at the age of 28, Ardern became the party’s Deputy Leader at 37, acceding to the leadership just six months later. Her youth, wisdom beyond her years and a canny coalition with New Zealand First, saw her sweep to power on October 26, 2017. So why is Ardern now, so loved and lauded then, absolutely reviled in her homeland today? Well, her critics, seemingly today, most of the five million population, point to her ‘wry opportunism,’ as, in the months following the tragedy, alarm bells rang as she appeared more focused on the ‘me’ of the shootings and the aftermath, rather than the ‘we’ and that’s quite simply, ‘not the Kiwi way.’ Ardern, who had touted herself as a 'reluctant PM,’ was by then revelling in the job, travelling widely, being feted and photographed, a ‘cause celebre,’ for news, current affairs and the talk show circuit and ‘loving it’. The pandemic of 2020, never helped her popularity at home either, as it was felt the measures she implemented went too far and whilst everyone was subject to the same, almost draconian restrictions, though Ardern countered that criticism, pointing to international acclaim for her “masterclass in crisis communication (Washington Post) and the “saving of 80,000 lives through her government’s actions”. The electorate ‘took its medicine’ and Ardern was subsequently re-elected later the same year with 70 per cent of the vote.

Within months though, her popularity had waned, or more correctly plummeted, to 30 per cent, as the even more punitive restrictions of the second wave of Covid-19 hit hard. Ardern’s determination that “it is what it is,” in a condescending dismissal of electorate concerns were remarkably offensive from a ‘caring’ leader and the beginning of the end.

Fast forward to January 2023, at just 43 years of age, citing “general dissatisfaction with the political realities of coalition politics” and that “I no longer had enough in the tank,” Ardern stepped away. Now a resident in Boston, the US, she is a regular on the chat show’ circuit and has written a book, ‘A Different Kind of Power,’ which, of course portray her as humble and between the lines, almost saintly. On the other hand, Christchurch journalist Chris Lynch writes of her emasculation of public concerns, while walking straight into UN employment immediately, and leaving New Zealand with indecent haste, echo of “rats and sinking ships,” while he suggests she writes another book: ‘The Authoritarian: How I Left New Zealand Divided and in a Mess”.

With hindsight, the reality is that Ardern’s politics were always about Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern and not her nation. Ardern worked as a political researcher for, among others, then PM Helen Clark, subsequently prominent in the UN and WHO; and it’s clear Ardern has positioned herself to follow the same path. Questions remain over substantial expenses claims and media speculation around the activities of her husband, TV personality Clark Gaylord, which if not tarnishing her legacy enough, have certainly eroded the trust of a nation.

Watching Ardern in the media today inspires only cynicism, exuding about as much sincerity as disenfranchised royals Meghan and Harry, in a truly astonishing fall from grace.