Jacinda Ardern pays for mum-of-two's groceries after she forgot her wallet

She already has a reputation as one of the world’s best leaders thanks to her response to the Christchurch mosque attacks, but now there’s another reason to love New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

A social media post revealed a mother-of-two was ahead of the prime minister at a supermarket checkout when she realised she had forgotten her purse.

Kindly, Ardern stepped in to pay.

“(Ardern) paid for my friends’ shopping in the supermarket the other day when she had forgotten her purse and had two screaming kids in tow,” Twitter user Helen Burness posted, adding: “like we didn’t love her enough”.

When questioned by a journalist at a media appearance on Thursday, Ardern humbly admitted that the story was true.

She said she chose to help the woman “because she was a mum”, before wrapping up the press conference.

The 38-year-old had her own daughter Neve last June, becoming only the second prime minister in the world to give birth while in office, and later taking the infant onto the floor of the UN Assembly in New York.

She has won widespread praise for her response to the March 15 Christchurch attacks in which a white supremacist gunman is accused of killing 50 Muslims in an atrocity that shook the normally peaceful nation.

• Alleged NZ mosque attacker now charged with 50 counts of murder

• Fish and chip shop owner’s heartbreaking sign on door ahead of closure

• Woman’s sinister find in surveillance footage after feeling ill for months

Her actions were described by local media as a mix of “solace and steel” after she donned the hijab while comforting devastated families and also moved swiftly to tighten gun laws.

Yahoo News Australia has contacted Ms Ardern’s office for comment.

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