New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday said that she had demoted health minister David Clark to the bottom of cabinet rankings for violating lockdown orders by going out for a 20 km beach drive with his family.
As per reports, Clark had himself offered his resignation letter to Ardern by revealing about his beach drive.
Clark had himself admitted that he had been an ‘idiot’ for flouting lockdown norms and his position meant he should have been setting an example.
“At a time when we are asking New Zealanders to make historic sacrifices, I’ve let the team down. I’ve been an idiot and I understand why people will be angry with me,” he added.
Ardern, however, did not accept his resignation letter and decided to demote him in order to smoothly carry out the plans made by the government in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
She stripped him of his junior role of associated finance minister and demoted him in the cabinet rankings.
“Under normal circumstances, I would have sacked the minister of health. What he did was wrong, and there are no excuses,” she added.
According to John Hopkins University tally, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in New Zealand is 1160 till now.
