‘First bloke’ also a star

Wellington – New Zealand not only has its youngest female prime minister in centre-left Labour leader Jacinda Ardern, but a new “first bloke” who is a national celebrity in his own right.

Clarke Gayford, who hosts his own fishing television show, has already broken the mould of his predecessors, stepping in to defend his partner against “scaremongering old dinos” like one political rival who made a reference to Ardern and “lipstick on a pig”.

On Twitter, Gayford, pictured, has thrown fishing buddy jokes to Winston Peters, the leader of the small nationalist party that decided Ardern’s political fate and teased a nation that waited a month for an election result: “Heading out of reception for a while ... things always seem to happen when I do this.”

Gayford’s social media followers are likely to surge, following the decision this week of Peters’ New Zealand First Party to team up behind 37-year-old Ardern.

Political analysts say the pair are a unique double act in a small country where the partners of the previous two female leaders, Helen Clark and Jenny Shipley, had a low profile.

“This political power couple will be interesting to watch,” said Grant Duncan, associate professor at Massey University in Auckland. The couple met four years ago when Gayford, 39, went to complain to parliament about the then National Party government's proposed changes to security legislation. He bumped into Ardern, a rising star of the Labour Party. They had coffee and moved in together not long after. Gayford’s television show, Fish

of the Day, sees him travelling around the Pacific, fishing and finding recipes for his catches. The series has been sold to 20 countries and won a gold award at the Houston International Film Festival last year. – Reuters