Jacinda Ardern resigns: PM looks forward to being there when daughter Neve starts school

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she is looking forward to celebrating her daughter’s fifth birthday and first day of school this year after shocking the country and resigning today.

“To Neve: Mum is looking forward to being there when you start school this year. And to Clarke, let’s finally get married,” Ardern told reporters today in Napier, where the Labour Party caucus retreat is being held.

She said she had yet to tell Neve she had resigned: “Four-year-olds are chatty - couldn’t take the risk.”

In an interview with Woman’s Weekly last month, Ardern said the thing she thinks consistently about is being a mum “and how I make sure that I’m there when Neve is in her teens”.

“When they say they don’t need you, but they do. I think about that and how I can make sure that I’m there.”

In 2018, baby Neve watched as Ardern spoke to the UN General Assembly hall for the first time for the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit.

It was just months after Neve was born in June 2018.

Ardern has at times taken to social media to share some experiences of parenthood, including baking a ladybug cake for Neve’s 4th birthday last year.

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A post shared by Jacinda Ardern (@jacindaardern)

When Ardern gave birth to Neve she was one of only two women to give birth while in office.

Then leader of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto gave birth to her daughter Bakhtawar on January 25, 1990, and was reportedly the first modern head of government to give birth while in office.

Speaking today, Ardern said being prime minister “has been the greatest honour of my life and I want to thank New Zealanders for the enormous privilege of leading the country for the last five and a half years.”

But, she said, it the role had “taken a lot out of me”.

“You cannot and should not do the job unless you have a full tank, plus a bit in reserve for those unplanned and unexpected challenges that inevitably come along.”

“Having reflected over summer I know I no longer have that bit extra in the tank to do the job justice. It’s that simple.”

Ardern said the Labour Party caucus was surprised when she told them, but they understood.

“As someone who always tried to be kind,” is how she said she would like New Zealanders to remember her.

Ardern will stand down as prime minister by February 7.