The soaring popularity of Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Labour prime minister, and the widespread praise for her leadership make it hard to assess her track record honestly. The ascent of Ardern, a charismatic and warm figure, to the Labour leadership in 2017 unquestionably breathed new life into the previously languishing party and gave much of the New Zealand left cause for hope.

Before Ardern, Labour had been in a state of decline and disarray. The party’s polling figures were plumbing new depths, and it was unable to put across a credible alternative to the fifth National government and its “compassionate conservatism.”

Ardern turned this predicament around with the promise that, under her lead, Labour would form a transformative government. “Neoliberalism had failed,” she insisted, and it was time for change.