The queen of England has decided that the prime minister of New Zealand is the “right honourable” John Kay. He has no wish to be “right honourable” but the British queen says he is, and so he is.
Until 2000 the “right honourable” prefix was used in New Zealand for members of the Privy Council of Britain. In that year the country stopped appointing its citizens to the Council. But Buckingham Palace has now announced that New Zealand’s prime minister, chief justice and governor-general will all be know as “right honourable”.
John Holden, who chairs the New Zealand Republican Movement, commented ” We can only guess at what the palace’s motivation is. It looks like it’s a bizarre attempt to make the monarchy relevant to New Zealanders. Unfortunately, like the Prime Minister, most New Zealanders don’t care for pompous titles. Buckingham Palace should have respected our Prime Minister’s decision not to award the title”.