Focus: PM Jacinda Ardern is engaged to her partner Clarke Gayford.
Engagement news from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and longtime partner, Clarke Gayford has seen congratulations and warm wishes pour in from around the country.
The couple, who are parents to 10-month-old daughter Neve, became engaged over Easter, a spokesman for Jacinda Ardern confirmed yesterday.
The couple are understood to have spent Easter at Clarke Gayford's family bach in Mahia on the East Coast.
Ardern's press secretary said the Prime Minister had been wearing a ring since Easter but it had been on a middle finger, not the traditional ring finger.
Media outlets around the world from the New York Times to CNN reported the news with references to Gayford as "First Bloke" and praise for the journalist who spotted the ring in the first place.
She tweeted: "What lovely news to start the weekend - congratulations Clarke and Jacinda!"
It is understood the news only emerged because a reporter attending the Pike River ceremony saw the Art Deco style ring on Ardern's left hand and asked Ardern's office about it.
Close-up of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's hands. An engagement ring can be seen on her left hand. Photo / Alan Gibson
The office later confirmed the news.
It is not known if Ardern or Gayford popped the question but the Prime Minister hinted it would have to be the latter in a previous interview.
In a January interview with the BBC Ardern said she would not let Gayford get away with not asking her.
During the interview, Victoria Derbyshire asked Ardern if she would ask Gayford to marry her.
"I would not ask, no. No."
When Derbyshire pointed out she was a feminist, Ardern replied: "Absolutely I'm a feminist. But I want to put him through the pain and torture of having to agonise about that question himself.
"No, that's letting him off the hook. Absolutely not," she said, laughing.
Ardern, 38, has previously quashed speculation she and Gayford were engaged.
In December 2017, two months after she became New Zealand's 40th Prime Minister, Ardern shut down speculation about a ring seen on a finger of her left hand.
"I thought I would upfront address the speculation in the gallery this afternoon over my Facebook Live and the issue of where my ring was placed during that Facebook Live," Ardern told media at a post-cabinet press conference.
"I'm happy to confirm that I have eczema on my left hand, which causes me to rotate where I wear my beautiful onyx ring. So no I am not engaged", she said at the time.
"I do however suffer from a small skin condition, which is not very romantic. Glad to have cleared that up."
Ardern and Gayford first met at the Metro Restaurant Awards, in 2012 and then met again at a later date when Gayford approached her with a constituency issue.
