‘Parenting is a two-person job’: Kemi Badenoch slams Tory backbencher who said she was ‘too busy with her children’ to be party leader

Kemi Badenoch has slammed a Tory backbencher who said she was ‘too busy with her children’ to be party leader, saying parenting is a ‘two-person job’.

Ms Badenoch, the favorite to become leader of the Conservative Party next month, said fathers must step up after Sir Christopher Chope questioned her ability to be leader of the opposition.

Sir Christopher, 77, was branded out of touch after suggesting she might not have the “time and energy” to juggle being leader of the opposition with motherhood.

She has two daughters and a son, aged eleven to five, but her opponent Robert Jenrick also has three daughters aged twelve, ten and eight.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Ms Badenoch said more discussion was needed about the role of fathers in parenting, adding that the party had too often focused on single mothers in the past.

‘I think we got into trouble decades ago when we were very critical of single parenthood. It sounded like we were always talking about single mothers,” she said.

‘Where are the fathers? Why aren’t the fathers there? Why don’t they take care of their families?’

Ms Badenoch, the favorite to become leader of the Conservative Party next month, said fathers must step up after Sir Christopher Chope questioned her ability to be leader of the opposition.

Sir Christopher, 77, was branded out of touch after suggesting she might not have the “time and energy” to juggle being leader of the opposition with motherhood.

She added: “I remember early on as an MP doing quite a lot of cases about absent fathers being pursued by the Child Support Agency. I think that when people make children, they should also take care of them. Family is important.

“And if you look at the prison population, the vast majority of the male prison population did not grow up with their fathers. If fathers take better care of their children, they are less likely to end up in prison. And we need to discuss things like that more often.”

Sir Christopher, Christchurch MP and former minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, made the comments ITV Meridian’s The Last Word last week.

“Robert’s children are a bit older and I think it is important that whoever is leading the opposition has a huge amount of time and energy,” Chope told the programme.

When asked by Labour’s Helena Dollimore whether he meant that ‘a woman should not be leader of a political party because she has young children’, Chope replied: ‘I’m not saying that at all. I was one of Margaret Thatcher’s strongest and most loyal supporters.

‘What worries me is because I understand from conversations with colleagues that Kemi spends a lot of time with her family, which I don’t blame at all.

‘But the consequence of that is that you cannot spend all your time with your family and at the same time be leader of the opposition.

Ms Badenoch has two daughters and a son, aged 11 to five, but her opponent Robert Jenrick also has three daughters aged 12, 10 and eight.

‘You could say that Margaret Thatcher’s family suffered because of the commitment and dedication she gave to leading our country.’

Mr Jenrick has distanced himself from Sir Christopher’s comments, describing them as ‘absolutely wrong’.

Meanwhile, the former immigration secretary gave his own interview to the Sunday Telegraph, in which he vowed to repeal the Climate Change Act and the Equality Act if he became prime minister.

Mr Jenrick has already said Britain should leave the European Convention on Human Rights, but extended his attack to a series of Blair-era laws that he said prevented ministers from making the decisions that they wanted.

He said: ‘The next Conservative government must do better to create a truly conservative country. We must repeal and amend the Climate Change Act, the Equality Act and the Human Rights Act and return decision-making to ministers accountable to Parliament.”