Baby plans, not policy, first hurdle for New Zealand Labour's new female leader

Jacinda Ardern (C), New Zealand's new opposition Labour leader, speaks to the press alongside members of her party after Andrew Little stepped down in Wellington, New Zealand, August 1, 2017. REUTERS/Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's charismatic new Labour leader, who took over in a desperate gamble to revive her struggling party seven weeks out from an election, spent her first 24 hours in the job fielding questions about babies rather than her policy plans.

Jacinda Ardern, 37, took over as Labour's youngest leader on Tuesday after her predecessor quit over "disturbing" opinion poll results, leaving little time to plot a strategy to break the centre-right National Party's decade-long hold on power.