New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been caught calling “arrogant jerk” to an opposition deputy in Parliament, in a private comment captured by the microphone of his seat.
After the controversy, Ardern has written a text message apologizing to the deputy David Seymour, of the liberal party ACT New Zealand, whom he had insulted after an intervention by him at parliamentary headquarters in Wellington.
In statements to the local media, Seymour, the only deputy from his party in the Legislature, has indicated that the prime minister wrote him a message that said “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that” and that he responded wishing you a merry christmas and that the matter was already settled.
In his speech before the insult, the deputy, of neoliberal ideology, had asked Ardern about inflation, crime and had challenged him to tell at least once in which the Government has been wrong, has recognized it and has done something to fix it.
The Labor Prime Minister responded that her government was not perfect but that it made decisions with the common good in mind and, as she sat down, commented in a low voice with a colleague from her bench that the deputy was an “arrogant prick” (“arrogant asshole”) , but the microphones picked up the expression.
ACT New Zealand, which defends lower taxes, a strong hand against crime and is against policies against the climate crisis, obtained more than 219,000 votes, 7.58%, in the 2020 elections, a great leap compared to the 13,075 votes obtained in 2017.
Under Ardern’s leadership, the progressive Labor Party, won the 2017 elections with a simple majority and then obtained an absolute majority in 2020, by gaining 65 of the 120 deputies in Parliament.
Source: Lasexta
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
