If only Theresa were more like Jacinda maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess.

New Zealand’s Labour prime minister rose magnificently to the occasion when a hate-crazed assassin struck in Christchurch, killing 50 Muslim worshippers.

Straight into the thick of it, taking charge and bringing the people with her, Jacinda Ardern was all that a democratic leader should be.

This slightly-built, witheringly articulate woman who was only named her party’s leader the month before becoming PM in 2017, spoke for her nation as if she had been born for such a challenge.

Compare her handling of a national crisis with Theresa May’s ham-fisted, ­incoherent command of Brexit. The contrast is embarrassing.

Mrs May is a politician’s politician: more than two decades as an MP, chairwoman of the Tory Party, holder of a string of ministerial offices and six years as Home Secretary, before taking over from David Cameron as PM in 2016.

But she’s not a natural leader.

Jacinda is, and it shows. A one-time policy adviser to Tony Blair, this 37-year-old starter-premier could tell veteran Theresa a thing or two about doing the job.

Like how to conduct ­yourself with people.

Mrs May is gauche, wooden and lacking in empathy. She came late to the Grenfell fire tragedy, and failed to win hearts and minds.

Mrs Kiwi gets in there, talks the talk with victims’ families, and then walks the walk with tough new curbs on gun ownership.

You can tell she gets it. If only we could get her, or somebody like her, to lead us out of this chaos.

Time is running short. Mrs May signals she’s had enough, and might quit in the summer. No other person in her party is fit to succeed her, which is not surprising: there’s no such thing as a Tory Jacinda.

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