We’ve all had to get used to political shockwaves in recent years, but the news that Jacinda Ardern will not seek re-election as prime minister of New Zealand came straight out of left field. Speaking at a retreat for the New Zealand Labour Party on 19 January, Ardern said: “I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice.” She will leave parliament in April, 15 years after she was first sworn in as a member (the New Zealand equivalent of an MP).

My gut reaction, when I saw the breaking news alert about Ardern’s resignation pop up on my phone, was one of dismay. Ardern, leave? She can’t go. She’s something special! That’s not to say that she’s magic or that her premiership has been entirely transformative; New Zealand will face many problems when Ardern leaves its parliament, not least an acute housing crisis. But from the grim vantage point of Britain, the centre-left Ardern has always seemed like a breath of fresh air. The world’s youngest female head of government when she was sworn in aged 37 in 2017, she radiates empathy, strength and intelligence, and also possesses the surprisingly rare political quality of speaking and behaving like a likeable human being. In the UK, where we’ve been trapped for years in an increasingly bleak, divisive and authoritarian political climate, having a leader like Ardern has long felt like a pipe dream.