Two’s company, three’s a crowdpleaser First couple’s popularity tipped to explode globally after baby news
If any two people don’t need a baby announcement to boost their popularity, it might just be Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner, Clarke Gayford.
Be that as it may, new life is on the way. Now that the couple have announced they are expecting their first child in June their popularity could be about to go stratospheric.
Even the British royal family — who have their own bundle of joy due in April — might have to look out, political commentator Bryce Edwards told the Weekend Herald.
“I think we’re living in a time where royalty is being eclipsed by other celebrities and other politicians and that Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford will be perfectly placed to be the new royalty, because of this situation with the new baby.
“Jacindamania will now spread to the rest of the world. There will be huge interest in this because it is quite surprising the lack of female heads of government that have had children while in office.
“There is [that example] in Pakistan, but that was 30 years ago. This is the first time in the modern age . . . so it is going to be big, there’s no avoiding it.” Whether Edwards’ prediction holds true or not, the Prime Minister and her fishing TV show host other half have already shown an innate knack for winning over the public.
Ardern is often referred to in public by her first name, suggesting many have formed a much closer connection to the 37-year-old than may have been the case for previous holders of our highest office.
Our first Generation X Prime Minister comes from the John Key school of seemingly effortlessly relating to the people she leads, a trait shared by her partner of four years.
She showed it when she answered the door of her suburban Auckland home barefoot for Herald political editor Audrey Young this week, and when she expressed fear of a roasting by visiting British comedian Jimmy Carr when they appeared on a TV show this week — her honesty led Carr to declare his love for the newbie PM because “you’re like the opposite of [US President Donald] Trump”.
Superstar singer Lorde was also won over by Ardern, sharing a hug on stage at last November’s NZ Music Awards, Ardern is friends with politician-slaying comedian Tom Sainsbury and Australia’s Opposition leader Bill Shorten treated his young daughters by arranging a video chat with Ardern during a visit.
Gayford, who had a long radio career before turning his passion for fishing into the Fish of the Day TV show, is also no mug when it comes to connecting with ordinary Kiwis.
This week he won hearts when he tweeted that a child’s letter expressing fears for his mental wellbeing “now that Jacinda is so busy” was the cutest correspondence he had received.
A day later he won more fans when he responded to another person’s tweet that they had “f***ed up a u-turn in the PM’s driveway” as Gayford was mowing the verge, but that Gayford “pretended not to notice that I curbed it”.
Gayford continued the support with his response on Twitter.
“I thought it was an excellent three point turn, besides I was deeply focused on the mower’s catcher status.”
Media commentator Janet Wilson said Ardern and Gayford were accomplished communicators and “outstanding” on social media.
“I think it’s because they’re both so authentic . . . and they’ve got a pure instinct for that kind of stuff [social media]. Clarke before he even met her was pretty clever in terms of what he was doing.”
Their baby announcement, made on social media with a cute image of a
family of fish hooks, was a perfect example of Ardern showing she’s “down with it”, Wilson said.
Edwards said humour was a huge part of the couple’s appeal.
“They’re self-deprecating too . . . it’s very important for the New Zealand character. We don’t like people that are up themselves.” It’s a new political age, sparked by a new antielitism following the global financial crisis, around the world — instead of
wanting leaders to be “quite above us”, people expected them to be relatable.
“They’re modern in lots of ways. They’re not married, they have only just bought a house and it seems to be a very modest house in Auckland.”
Exceltium public relations consultant Ben Thomas, a former National Government press secretary, said as well as being genuinely warm and possessing “great emotional intelligence”, Ardern was a child of the 90s. “She has that selfdeprecating and slightly ironic kind of position as a default, which is what internet culture grew out of ”.
Translation: she has no trouble moving in the online world, despite not quite being a digital native.
Ardern was also “part of a moment in time” in New Zealand, he said.
“Most of the interesting and noteworthy things that are happening in New Zealand, in a cultural sense, right now, it’s young women that are doing it — Lorde, Eleanor Catton, Lydia Ko, Hera Lindsay Bird, Aldous Harding . . . Jacinda’s part of that kind of moment as well.”
In the last year or two there has been an intense media focus, particularly in the United States, on the invisible barriers facing women in their careers and their lives, and a lot of anger and frustration about the expectations and beliefs that create those barriers, Thomas said.
“A national leader giving birth in office obviously explodes a lot of those expectations about what women should do and can do, and so it’s a hugely good news story.”
Edwards expected Gayford would be seen positively as a role model for stay-at-home dads, but the biggest impact would be Ardern’s.
“Like it or not, and I think she will like it, she will be a symbol for the rights and the triumphs of working mothers.”