Chris Hipkins profile: who is New Zealand’s next prime minister after Jacinda Ardern?

‘Chippy’ weathered Covid pandemic, now faces new storms and Labour’s flagging popularity ahead of 2023 election

New Zealand’s incoming prime minister, Chris Hipkins, steered the country through the Covid pandemic. An experienced career politician with a “fixer” reputation, he has a new storm to navigate: reversing Labour’s months-long polling slide and recapturing voters in the wake of Jacinda Ardern’s shock departure.

Hipkins, 44, was the minister primarily charged with designing and implementing New Zealand’s Covid response. It made him a household name for many New Zealanders – he was a regular fixture at daily press conferences alongside Ardern.

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Chris Hipkins set to become next prime minister of New Zealand

Minister selected by Labour party to succeed Jacinda Ardern after her shock resignation on Thursday

A new prime minister for New Zealand has been chosen by the Labour party after the shock resignation of Jacinda Ardern on Thursday.

Chris Hipkins – the minister for education and policing, and one of the primary architects of the Covid response – was nominated uncontested by the party caucus on Saturday morning, after efforts by senior MPs to achieve consensus and secure a smooth transition in Ardern’s wake. The caucus is due to formally endorse his selection on Sunday.

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World Uyghur Congress loses legal challenge against UK authorities

WUC claimed UK unlawfully failed or refused to investigate cotton imports from Xinjiang

The World Uyghur Congress has said it is disappointed to have lost a legal challenge against UK authorities for not launching a criminal investigation into the importation of cotton products manufactured by forced labour in China’s Xinjiang province but would continue to fight for accountability.

The WUC took the home secretary, HM Revenue and Customs and the National Crime Agency (NCA), to the high court, claiming an unlawful failure or refusal to investigate imports from Xinjiang, allegedly home to 380 internment camps used to detain Uyghurs and people from other Muslim minorities.

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