I am drawn to the very close parallel of Ardern’s Labour election here in New Zealand and Keir Starmer’s UK Labour win. The UK electorate had had enough of what was seen as a spineless and out-of-touch Conservative administration.
In New Zealand, there were immigration issues and the absolute nonsense with Māori relations being developed by Christopher Finlayson and John Key.
Here, Labour’s 2020 landslide was also heavily influenced by the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic. Some voters who would never normally support Labour backed Ardern because they believed she was providing stability during a crisis.
Once the immediate Covid emergency passed, many of those temporary supporters drifted away when the Ardern Labour government had demonstrated what a pack of untruthful wallies they truly are.
