Jacinda Ardern

Dame Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern (born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party from 2017 to 2023.

Ardern was born on 26 July 1980 in Hamilton, New Zealand.

She grew up in Morrinsville and Murupara, where her father, Ross Ardern, worked as a police officer, and her mother, Laurell Ardern, worked as a school catering assistant.

She has an older sister named Louise.

Ardern was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and her uncle, Ian S. Ardern, is a general authority in the church.

She studied at Morrinsville College, where she was the student representative on the school's board of trustees.

Whilst still at school she found her first job, working at a local fish-and-chip shop.

She joined the Labour Party at the age of 17.

She led the Labour Party to a landslide victory, gaining an overall majority of 65 seats in Parliament, the first time a majority government had been formed since the introduction of a proportional representation system in 1996.

On 19 January 2023, Ardern announced she would resign as Labour leader, prompting mostly positive global reactions about her leadership style and policy decisions.

Following the unopposed election of Chris Hipkins as her successor, she resigned as leader of the Labour Party on 22 January and submitted her resignation as prime minister to the governor-general on 25 January.

Her aunt, Marie Ardern, a longstanding member of the Labour Party, recruited the teenaged Ardern to help her with campaigning for New Plymouth MP Harry Duynhoven during his re-election campaign at the 1999 general election.

After graduating from the University of Waikato in 2001, Ardern worked as a researcher in the office of Prime Minister Helen Clark.

She later worked in London as an adviser in the Cabinet Office during Tony Blair's premiership.

Ardern attended the University of Waikato, graduating in 2001 as a Bachelor of Communication Studies in politics and public relations, a specialist three-year degree.

She took a semester abroad at Arizona State University in 2001.

After graduating from university, she spent time working in the offices of Phil Goff and of Helen Clark as a researcher.

After a period of time in New York City, United States, where she volunteered at a soup kitchen and worked on a workers' rights campaign, Ardern moved to London, England, in 2006, where she became a senior policy adviser in an 80-person policy unit of the United Kingdom Cabinet Office under prime minister Tony Blair.

She was a Labour member of Parliament (MP) as a list MP from 2008 to 2017, and for Mount Albert from 2017 to 2023.

Born in Hamilton, Ardern grew up in Morrinsville and Murupara.

She joined the Labour Party at the age of 17.

In 2008, Ardern was elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth.

Ardern was first elected as an MP in the 2008 general election, when Labour lost power after nine years.

On 30 January 2008, at 27, Ardern was elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) at their world congress in the Dominican Republic for a two-year term until 2010.

The role saw her spend time in several countries, including Hungary, Jordan, Israel, Algeria and China.

(She did not meet Blair in person while in London, but later at an event in New Zealand in 2011 she questioned him about the 2003 invasion of Iraq.) Ardern was also seconded to the United Kingdom Home Office to help with a review of policing in England and Wales.

She was later elected to represent the Mount Albert electorate in a by-election on 25 February 2017.

Ardern was unanimously elected as deputy leader of the Labour Party on 1 March 2017, after the resignation of Annette King.

Exactly five months later, with an election due, Labour's leader Andrew Little resigned after a historically low opinion polling result for the party, with Ardern elected unopposed as leader in his place.

Labour's support increased rapidly after Ardern became leader, and she led her party to gain 14 seats at the 2017 general election on 23 September, winning 46 seats to the National Party's 56.

After negotiations, New Zealand First chose to enter a minority coalition government with Labour, supported by the Green Party, with Ardern as prime minister.

She was sworn in by the governor-general on 26 October 2017.

She became the world's youngest female head of government at age 37.

Ardern gave birth to her daughter on 21 June 2018, making her the world's second elected head of government to give birth while in office (after Benazir Bhutto).

Ardern describes herself as a social democrat and a progressive.

The Sixth Labour Government faced challenges from the New Zealand housing crisis, child poverty, and social inequality.

In March 2019, in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings, Ardern reacted by rapidly introducing strict gun laws, winning her wide recognition.

Throughout 2020 she led New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, for which she won praise for New Zealand being one of the few Western nations to successfully contain the virus.

It is estimated that her government's actions saved as many as 80,000 lives.

Ardern moved the Labour Party further to the centre towards the October 2020 general election, promising to cut spending during the remainder of the COVID-19 recession.