A Tory backbencher sparked outrage today by claiming would-be party leader Kemi Badenoch may struggle to do the job because she is ‘preoccupied with her children’.
Sir Christopher Chope, 77, who supports Ms Badenoch’s rival Robert Jenrick, suggested that she may lack the ‘time and energy’ to combine being leader of the opposition with motherhood.
The Christchurch MP, a former minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, made the remarks as the two leadership contenders prepare to face each other in a live debate on GB News this evening.
Appearing on ITV Meridian’s The Last Word, he highlighted the fact that Ms Badenoch spent a lot of time with her children.
She has two daughters and a son, from 11 to five, but Mr Jenrick also has three daughters aged 12, 10 and eight.
‘Robert’s children are a bit older and I think it is important that whoever leaders the opposition has an immense amount of time and energy,’ Mr Chope told the programme.
But shadow health and social care secretary Victoria Atkins, who also backs Mr Jenrick, said: ‘This is the 2020s, not the 1950s.
Sir Christopher Chope, 77, who supports Ms Badenoch’s rival Robert Jenrick, suggested that she might not have the ‘time and energy’ to combine being leader of the opposition with motherhood.
Appearing on ITV Meridian’s The Last Word, he highlighted the fact that Ms Badenoch spent a lot of time with her children. She and Mr Jenrick both have three children.
‘Robert’s children are a bit older and I think it is important that whoever leaders the opposition has an immense amount of time and energy,’ Mr Chope told the programme.
The Christchurch MP made the remarks as the two leadership contenders prepare to face each other in a live debate on GB News this evening.
She added: ‘All working mums and dads juggle family, career and general life. That one of our final two impressive candidates also happens to be a mum reflects the modern Conservative Party and modern life. Here’s to all working mums.’
Asked by Labour’s Helena Dollimore if he was saying ‘a woman shouldn’t be standing to be leader of a political party because she’s got young kids’ Mr Chope replied: ‘I’m not saying that at all. I was one of Margaret Thatcher’s strongest and staunchest supporters.
‘What gives me the concern is because I understand from talking to colleagues that Kemi spends a lot of time with her family, which I don’t resent at all.
‘But the consequence of it is that you can’t spend all your time with your family as at the same time being leader of the opposition.
‘You could argue that Margaret Thatcher’s family suffered as a result of the commitment and dedication which she gave to leading our country.’
Today Ms Dollimore said: ‘I thought nothing could shock me about the state of the Conservative Party, but that was before I had to sit through Christopher Chope opining about whether mothers can lead political parties.
‘I hope Robert Jenrick distances himself from these unhinged comments.’
Mr Chope has a back catalogue of comments and interventions that have triggered criticism.
He is notorious for using arcane House of Commons procedures to stop measures put forward by backbenchers despite them having widespread support.
He often argues that the government should make time for such laws so they get more detailed scrutiny.
In 2019 he blocked legislation protecting girls from genital mutilation by shouting ‘object’ to prevent the progress of a Bill allowing the courts to issue protection orders if they think a child is at risk.
It was the second time he had acted against the law and sparking howls of protest from fellow MPs.
He previously stood in the way of a ban on ‘upskirting’ and a posthumous pardon for gay mathematician Alan Turing, who was persecuted over his sexuality and eventually killed himself.
He was knighted in 2018 for ‘political and public service’.
Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch will square off in the first live TV debate of the Tory leadership campaign tonight.
In a face-to-face that may have party officials watching through their fingers the two challengers will appear live together on GB News this evening.
Televised debates during the 2022 leadership campaign between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss turned nasty and were seen as a bad idea by many Tories.
But the two current hopefuls appear unlikely to take part in a debate in front of a larger audience.
A mooted appearance live on the BBC hangs in the balance after the broadcaster refused a Conservative demand to charge audience members a £10 entry fee, arguing it would reduce the number of no-shows.
Ms Badenoch last night has said she is running a ‘grassroots campaign’ to be the next Tory leader rather than a ‘media campaign’, in an apparent swipe at her rival.
The two final candidates for the Conservative leadership have taken different approaches to the final leg of the race to succeed Rishi Sunak, with Mr Jenrick having made more public-facing speeches than his rival.
But Ms Badenoch insisted that despite her lower profile early in the race, she was going win.
‘I think we are going to do this. I am not being complacent,’ she told a virtual rally of Tory members held on the platform Teams.
The North West Essex MP added: ‘I am working hard, I am running a grassroots campaign, not a TV campaign or a media campaign. I am getting out there and I am looking forward to meeting many of you on the campaign trail.’
In a wide-ranging question and answer session with Tory members, she claimed Reform UK and the Lib Dems were ‘two sides of the same coin’ when asked how she would regain voters for the Conservatives.
She insisted the Lib Dems had gained so many seats in Parliament because Reform had split the Tories’ vote, adding: ‘If we can get our vote back from Reform I think that would tackle quite a lot of the Lib Dem threat that we face. That means being confident Conservatives again.’
Ms Badenoch however said the party needed to ‘spread out and get the common ground back’, rather than ‘tack’ in one particular political direction.
Elsewhere in the session, she told Tory members she was not against leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in order to tackle migration issues which have frustrated ministers.
But unlike Mr Jenrick, who has pitched the leadership contest as a ‘leave or remain’ battle over the ECHR, she said there were pieces of UK law she would like to see reformed first.
Ms Badenoch said: ‘I think the Human Rights Act, for example, there is a lot that we can do there before looking at international treaties.
She also said there were problems with the Equality Act, which she described as largely a good piece of law, adding: ‘These are the legacies of (former prime minister Sir Tony) Blair’s constitutional settlement. We can unpick them.’
Mr Jenrick had earlier claimed in a speech in Westminster that returning the benefits bill to pre-pandemic levels would free up enough money for a 2p income tax cut.
Taking Margaret Thatcher as his example, the Conservative leadership hopeful argued for a small-state, lower-regulation Britain.
He said: ‘I am setting a simple target: we will bring the inactivity rate back down to its pre-pandemic level, bringing almost 500,000 people back into the workforce.’
Along with sacking 100,000 civil servants, replacing ‘failed’ universities with ‘apprenticeship hubs’ and reforming the planning system to build more houses, Mr Jenrick argued for ‘responsible’ tax cuts funded by getting more people back into work.
Mr Jenrick also stressed the need to cut taxes ‘responsibly’, arguing the Liz Truss mini-budget had been a ‘damaging episode’ as it had paired tax cuts with ‘massive spending’ on support for energy bills – something he described as ‘the largest single welfare bailout, I think, in our country’s modern history’.
Conservative members have until October 31 to vote for their preferred leader, with the result announced on November 2.