Editorial: Getting under Jacinda Ardern's skin

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke with Herald political editor Audrey Young this week. File photo / Jason Oxenham

Editorial

EDITORIAL

"Those suggestions upset me."

These four words tell us what dismays Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, even more than the thousands of other words she's uttered since taking office on October 26, 2017.

Ardern, we find out via Audrey Young's insightful interview this week, is offended by any suggestion she's building a global profile to get an international job. Accusations of amassing adulation to feather a lofty nest is, it would appear, something that rankles the 39-year-old 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand.

There may be any number of reasons this is more irksome than other criticisms. In this age of social media, allegations against public figures are many more, and many more varied. People have always been able to make their own assumptions about others' motives, but never before have they been so easily disseminated.

On reflection, it does appear rather silly. Ardern could hardly pursue a bigger international profile that she already has. She was named the 29th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine late last year. Her face was projected onto the world's tallest building - Dubai's Burj Khalifa - in March.

Ardern did not seek these things. She has been at pains to turn questions about herself into responses about her country.

There are valid criticisms: the assault scandal shading her party, the backdown on capital gains tax, the long goodbye of Clare Curran, the forced recalibration of KiwiBuild and, perhaps, her refusal to engage at Ihumātao.

But self-aggrandisement? No.