Ardern, Jacinda Kate Laurell

Ardern, Jacinda Kate Laurell,

1980–, New Zealand political leader, b. Hamilton, N.Z., B.A. Univ. of Waikato, 2001. A member of the Labor party, she worked for Prime Minister Helen ClarkClark, Helen,
1950–, New Zealand politician, prime minister (1999–2008), b. Hamilton, N.Z. A graduate of the Univ. of Auckland (B.A., 1971; M.A., 1974), she taught political science there (1973–81).
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 and for British prime minister Tony BlairBlair, Tony
(Anthony Charles Lynton Blair), 1953–, British politician, b. Edinburgh. An Oxford-educated lawyer, he was first elected to Parliament in 1983 as the Labour party candidate from a district in N England.
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 and also was elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth (2007). Returning to New Zealand, she entered parliament in 2008 as its youngest member. In 2017 she became deputy leader of the Labor party and then, after Andrew Little resigned, party leader. In the Sept., 2017, elections, the conservative National party won a plurality, but Ardern and Labor were able to form a government with the conservative populist New Zealand First party with the support of the Green party. The youngest leader of New Zealand since the 1850s, she also became minister for national security and intelligence and for arts, culture, and heritage.