New Zealand’s health minister resigned Thursday following a series of private blunders during the coronavirus pandemic.
David Clark had earlier described himself as an idiot for breaking the nation’s lockdown measures then last week seemed to blame a beloved health official for border lapses, generating an angry response from the general public.
Announcing his resignation, Clark said he’d put all his energy into the work.
But it’s become increasingly clear to me that my continuation within the role is distracting from the government’s overall response to COVID-19,” he said.
Clark said he intended to stay within the parliament as a lower-ranking lawmaker.
New Zealand’s health response has been praised round the world after the country managed to eliminate community transmission of the virus. But Clark himself has been widely ridiculed.
His latest gaffe came last week when he seemed to place the blame for allowing some returning travelers to go away quarantine without being tested together with his top official, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield.
Bloomfield, who was standing behind Clark while he spoke, appeared stung by the criticism as he frowned and looked away during a video captured by Newshub and viewed tens of thousands of times.
Bloomfield has been the nation’s trusted doctor and public face of the virus response almost like Dr. Anthony Fauci within the us .
Many people were angered by Clark’s words, and a Twitter campaign dubbed Blooms for Bloomfield” was launched to shop for flowers for Bloomfield.
As many dollars poured in, Bloomfield asked that the cash be donated instead to charities, which it had been . it had been just the newest during a series of missteps by Clark.
In April, he was stripped of a number of his responsibilities after defying the country’s strict lockdown measures.
He drove 19 kilometers (12 miles) to the beach to require a walk together with his family because the government was asking people to form historic sacrifices by staying reception .
I’ve been an idiot, and that i understand why people are going to be angry with me, Clark said at the time.
He also earlier acknowledged driving to a park near his home to travel mountain biking, also in defiance of the principles .
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at the time she normally would have fired Clark but that the country couldn’t afford massive disruption in its health sector while it had been fighting the virus.
Instead, she stripped Clark of his role as associate minister of finance and demoted him to rock bottom of the cupboard rankings.
But on Thursday, Ardern said she was able to accept Clark’s resignation.
It’s essential our health leadership has the arrogance of the New Zealand public,” Ardern said during a statement.
As David has said to me, the requirements of the team must precede him as a private .
