Jacinda Ardern’s ‘arrogant p***k’ comment nets more than $100,000 at charity auction

Her comment came during question time in parliament last Tuesday

New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern joined hands with opposition politician David Seymour to auction an official parliamentary transcript for charity in which the prime minister referred to her rival as an “arrogant pr***” last week.

Ms Ardern was forced to apologise after her comment was broadcast on parliament television.

Her comment came during question time in parliament last Tuesday when Mr Seymore of the ACT party was seen relentlessly firing questions at her.

Ms Ardern said that she stood by the work her government had done over the past term and proceeded to sit down.

She was then caught on hot mic saying: “He’s such an arrogant p***k”.

Later Ms Ardern’s office said she apologised to Mr Seymour for the comment.

On Thursday the two lawmakers signed an official parliamentary transcript of the prime minister’s comment and auctioned it for charity.

The auction closed on Thursday with a top bid of just over 100,000 New Zealand dollars (around £52,060), reported Associated Press.

In a statement on Facebook Ms Ardern wrote: “Can’t say I expected this.

“A faux pas with the old mic in parliament has turned into $100,100 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. My thanks to David for being a good sport and to everyone who placed a bid.”

While Mr Seymour had said after the incident that he was “shocked and astonished” at her language, he later proposed the idea to auction the official record.

He suggested the auction idea to Ms Ardern at an end-of-year party with journalists and the prime minister agreed.

The auction was conducted on the website Trade Me and attracted more than 280 bids.

It was billed as “Ardern, Seymour join forces for p****s everywhere.”

Peter Dickens, the chief executive of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, said he was thankful to both the politicians.

“We’ve been overjoyed and amazed all the way through the journey of this auction,” he said.

“It’s made more than we ever could have imagined.”

(Additional reporting by agencies)