Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has sacked Iain Lees-Galloway as a minister over an inappropriate relationship he had with a staff member in one of the departments he headed.
The relationship lasted 12 months and has cost Lees-Galloway his political career – he will not contest September’s election.
Lees-Galloway, 41, is married with three children. He said he had “acted completely inappropriately in my position and cannot continue as a minister”.
Ardern said ministers having affairs was not necessarily inappropriate behaviour, and it depended on each individual circumstance.
But Lees-Galloway’s position was untenable because he was the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, and he had opened himself up to accusations of improperly using his power. (NZ Herald)