‘Arrogant p***k’: NZ PM Jacinda Ardern lashes out at MP

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called Act Party leader David Seymour an “arrogant p***k” in Parliament, following questions in the House of Representatives.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called another party leader an “arrogant p***k” as she took her seat in Parliament this afternoon.

Ms Ardern has since apologised to ACT leader David Seymour for the remarks via text, the New Zealand Herald reports.

Referencing another instance when he had been called names by Labour MP Willie Jackson, Mr Seymour told media: “Some days I am a useless Māori, others days I am an arrogant p***k.

“The apology we are really looking for is for New Zealanders worried about rising prices and ram raids.

“Jacinda Ardern texted me and said, ‘I apologise, it’s not something I should have said and she said, as my mum would say, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it’.

”I agree with the sentiment and it is all good as far as I am concerned. I just said, thank you and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas. At the end of the day, it’s not the end of the world.”

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NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called Act Party leader David Seymour an “arrogant p***k” in Parliament. Picture: Dave Rowland/Getty Images

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern caught on a hot mic, calling opposition MP David Seymour an "arrogant prick".

NZ's own unparliamentary language moment, landing just after Ireland's anniversary.pic.twitter.com/vvGZmwqCjB

— Rob O'Hanrahan (@RobOHanrahan) December 13, 2022

Mr Seymour told NZ radio host Heather du Plessis-Allan he’d been called worse, and he actually saw it as “a victory”.

“I asked her the question...before she said it...can she give us one example where she’d made a mistake, admitted it, apologised and fixed it.

“She couldn’t answer the question which is probably why she was a bit flustered...the great irony is now I actually have got her to apologise for something. So that’s progress. I just wish she’d apologise for a few other things.”

Ms Ardern has since apologised to Mr Seymour for the remarks via text. Picture: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

Mr Seymour had been asking Ms Ardern a series of questions relating to senior Labour MP Nanaia Mahuta’s performance, hate speech reforms and other policies.

After answering, as Ms Ardern takes her seat, she can be heard saying to Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson, who sits beside her: “Such an arrogant p***k.”

Such remarks would ordinarily not be heard, but Ms Ardern’s desk microphone picked up the comment.

Mr Seymour did not hear the remark himself. It was only after the Herald picked up on the comments and asked Mr Seymour to comment on them that Mr Seymour raised a point of order in the House, noting that Ms Ardern had made an “exceedingly unparliamentary remark”.

He asked that Speaker Adrian Rurawhe have Ms Ardern withdraw the remark and apologise.

Mr Rurawhe did not immediately allow that, noting the remark was not reported in Hansard.

However, Mr Seymour’s questioning of the remarks ensured that they would be recorded in Hansard for posterity - as interjections that are addressed in the chamber, as Mr Seymour addressed Ms Ardern’s comment, get recorded in Hansard.

This article originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald and was reproduced with permission