Wellington - New Zealand Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern is engaged to her longtime partner Clarke Gayford
after a proposal over the Easter holidays, her spokesman said on
Friday.
Gayford, the 41-year-old host of a TV fishing show, takes
care of their ten-month-old daughter Neve Te Aroha, while
Ardern, 38, runs the country.
Her pregnancy announced in early 2018 was seen by many as a
symbol of progress for women in leadership roles. She is only
the second elected leader to give birth while in office, after
Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto in 1990.
Ardern was asked by the BBC while visiting London in January
if she would consider asking Gayford to marry her or wait for
him to propose.
"Absolutely, I'm a feminist, but I want to put him through
the pain and torture of having to agonise about that question
himself. That's letting him off the hook, absolutely not," she
said jokingly.
News of their engagement broke after journalists noticed
Ardern wearing a ring on her middle finger at a public event on
Friday.
Her spokesman Andrew Campbell confirmed she had been wearing
the ring since Easter. He did not give details of the proposal.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford arrive in the East Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London in April 2018. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/Pool via AP
The couple met about six years ago when Gayford went to
complain to a member of parliament about the then National Party
government's proposed changes to security legislation.
He bumped into Ardern, a rising star in the Labour Party,
they had coffee and were living together not long after.
Gayford's television show, Fish of the Day, takes him around
the Pacific, fishing and finding recipes for his catch. The
series has been sold to 20 countries and won a gold award at the
Houston International Film Festival in 2016.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, left, and her partner Clarke Gayford got engaged over the Easter break in the town of Mahia. Picture: Rick Rycroft/AP
While Ardern was breastfeeding her infant daughter, the
family travelled to New York for the United Nations General
Assembly last September.
The family divides their time between the capital Wellington
and Auckland, where they own a house in a central city suburb.
Ardern's calm and compassionate response to the killing of
51 Muslims in March burnished the credentials of a leader who
has been criticised domestically over her handling of the
economy and flip flops in government policy.