Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern & partner Clarke Gayford are engaged

The Prime Minister is engaged to her longtime partner, Clarke Gayford.

The couple, who are parents to 10-month-old daughter Neve, became engaged over Easter, a spokesman for Jacinda Ardern said.

A ring, thought to be diamond, was spotted by reporters on the PM's hand at a ceremony at Pike River on the West Coast today.

In an interview with the BBC in January, Ardern said she wouldn't propose to Gayford.

"Absolutely I am a feminist', Ardern said. "But no, I want to put him through the pain and torture of having to agonise about that question himself. No, that's letting him off the hook," she said.

Ardern, 38, has previously quashed speculation she and Gayford were engaged.

In December 2017, two months after she became New Zealand's 40th Prime Minister, Ardern addressed speculation about a ring seen on a finger of her left hand.

"I thought I would upfront address the speculation in the gallery this afternoon over my Facebook Live and the issue of where my ring was placed during that Facebook live," Ardern told media at a post-cabinet press conference.

"I'm happy to confirm that I have eczema on my left hand, which causes me to rotate where I wear my beautiful onyx ring. So no I am not engaged", she said at the time.

"I do however suffer from a small skin condition, which is not very romantic. Glad to have cleared that up."

 This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.