- David Seymour challenged her to count a time when she made a mistake, admitted it, and fixed it.
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| File photo of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. |
An open microphone records Jacinda Ardern calling a deputy an "arrogant asshole"
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was caught Tuesday calling an opposition member of Parliament an "arrogant prick" in a private comment captured on the microphone from her seat.
After the controversy, Ardern wrote 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 the parliamentary headquarters in Wellington.
In statements to local media, Seymour, the only legislator from his party, said the prime minister wrote him a message saying "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that" and that he responded by wishing her a Merry Christmas and that the matter was already settled.
In his speech before the insult, the deputy, of neoliberal ideology, asked Ardern about inflation, and crime and challenged her to count 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 advocates lower taxes, is tough on crime and is anti-climate crisis policies, polled more than 219,000 votes, or 7.58 percent, in the 2020 election, a huge leap from 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, winning 65 of the 120 members of Parliament.
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