Chris Hipkins New Zealand’s Next Prime Minister

Chris Hipkins will become New Zealand’s next prime minister after MPs of the ruling Labour party made the 44-year-old their unanimous choice to replace outgoing leader Jacinda Ardern, Nic Fildes and Peter Wells report for the Financial Times.

Although lacking the star power of the charismatic Ardern, analysts said the quietly competent and casual Hipkins – whose role in leading the country’s Covid-19 response helped to earn him the ‘Mr Fixit’ tag – may suit a party that has lost touch with “middle New Zealand”.

Hipkins paid tribute to Ardern’s “calm, stable, reassuring leadership” during some of the most challenging circumstances in the country’s history. “However, we are different people,” he said, drawing a line between himself and his predecessor.

Original article by Nic Fildes and Peter Wells, Financial Times, January 22, 2023.