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Jacinda Ardern’s attitude of “let’s go hard, let’s go early” in the fight against Covid-19 continues to attract admiration worldwide.
Ardern’s handling of the pandemic has already been recognized by people as CNN and The Washington Post, now the UK Independent he got on board and applauded his leadership.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s director of communications and strategy Alastair Campbell praised her for focusing on the human, as well as the economic consequences, of the international pandemic.
He said Ardern could take considerable credit for the impressive result thus far in keeping New Zealand’s numbers down.
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ROSA WOODS / COSAS
“The principles for leading a country of 5 million through crisis are the same as leading a country of 50 or 500 million,” says Campbell.
As of Saturday, New Zealand had four Covid-19 related deaths, while the UK is rapidly approaching 10,000 with 9,875 deaths from the virus.
“Of course, New Zealand is a smaller country than the United Kingdom or Australia, let alone giants like the United States and China,” Campbell wrote.
“But the principles for leading a country of 5 million through a crisis are the same as for leading a country with 50 or 500 million. You have to lead. You must devise, execute and narrate a strategy. You must establish difficult options, make decisions difficult, trust the country why you are taking them. You must show real empathy for the difficulties your people are facing and take them with you. “
He went on to say that Ardern was surely one of the outstanding leaders of this crisis.
Campbell said there were two key dates that stood out for Ardern, first on March 21, when he explained the strategy that New Zealand should adopt.
“She emphasized the need for firm action to stop the spread of the virus during what she called” the window of opportunity “before it really took over, as had happened in China, Iran and, when she spoke, in Italy and New York. He set out and explained in detail, but in clear and simple language, the four stages of alerting and what each would require of the government and of the people.His attitude was calm, authoritative and friendly.
“In this rugby-obsessed nation, unsurprisingly, one of the core messages sounded like something from an All Blacks team talk: ‘We strive, we move forward.'”
And then two days later, when New Zealand prepared to go to alert level 4.
“She delivered this memorable line, which helped frame both government action and public understanding:” We only have 102 cases, but so did Italy once. “
Campbell said Ardern gave immediate clarity that was sadly lacking in the UK about who the key workers were and what essential travel they were
Her continued “Be Strong and Kind” message also led her to praise.
“She shared that plan in a way that I never felt the US and UK governments shared with her own, which has allowed the impression to develop that they are making it up as they go along.”
Campbell also praised Ardern for his natural empathy that he showed through the Christchurch terror attack.
“At the other end of the empathy scale, could any other leader have been to a government lectern like he recently did and speak directly to the children about how yes, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny were key workers But they may not be able to get everywhere because they were so busy in these tough times?
Campbell writes that he had spent his confinement hours studying how different world leaders were dealing with the Covid-19 challenge.
“Ardern is the only one who seems to be smiling as much in the crisis as she does in what might be called normal times. It seems to help her and New Zealand through it.”
