New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was caught on a hot mic calling the leader of another political party an “arrogant p****” as she took her seat following questions in parliament on Tuesday.
Ardern has since apologised to ACT Party leader David Seymour for the remarks via text.
Referencing another instance when he had been called names by Labour MP Willie Jackson, Seymour told media: “Some days I am a useless Māori, others days I am an arrogant p****.
“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’,” Seymour added.
“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.”
Seymour had been asking Ardern a series of questions relating to Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s performance, hate speech reforms and other policies.
After answering, Ardern can be heard saying to a fellow politician sat beside her, presumably in reference to Seymour: “Such an arrogant p****.”
Such remarks would ordinarily not be heard, but Ardern’s desk microphone picked up the comment.
Seymour did not hear the remark himself. It was only after reporters picked up on the comments and asked him to comment on them that he raised a point of order, noting that Ardern had made an “exceedingly unparliamentary remark”.
He asked that Speaker Adrian Rurawhe have Ardern withdraw the remark and apologise.
Rurawhe did not immediately allow that, noting the remark was not reported in Hansard, the official transcript of parliamentary debates.
However, Seymour’s questioning of the remarks ensured that they would be recorded in Hansard for posterity – as interjections that are addressed in the chamber get recorded in Hansard.