Andrea Leadsom would not employ a male nanny in case he is a paedophile
Andrea Leadsom has suggested men should not be hired to care for young children because they may be paedophiles.
Mrs Leadsom made the comments during an interview with The Times before she dropped out of the Tory leadership, handing victory to new Prime Minister Theresa May.
The newspaper today revealed further comments made during the interview in a discussion on childcare.
During the chat, she said it would be “sensible” not to appoint males for childcare duties.
“As an employer we’re not, let’s face it, most of us don’t employ men as nannies, most of us don’t,” she said.
“Now you can call that sexist, I call that cautious and very sensible when you look at the stats.
“Your odds are stacked against you if you employ a man,” she added.
“We know paedophiles are attracted to working with children. I’m sorry but they’re the facts.”
During the same interview – which was published in the newspaper last weekend – the newly appointed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs sparked fury after claiming she was better equipped at leading the country than Mrs May because she had children.
Mrs Leadsom “possibly has nieces, nephews” but said because she has children she has a “very real stake” in the prosperity of Britain.
Following the backlash her comments caused, she announced her plans to exit the leadership race in order to unite the party behind Mrs May.
A new MP in 2010, Mrs Leadsom entered Parliament after the bulk of LGBT rights legislation had already been passed. She ‘positively abstained’ on equal marriage in 2013, voting both in favour and against citing the views of her constituents.
But the candidate has faced a string of controversies in the past few weeks. PinkNews reported last week that Mrs Leadsom had previously claimed that straight adoptive parents should have priority over gay couples in the adoption process.
During her short leadership bid, Mrs Leadsom also said that she “doesn’t like” the legislation that brought about equal marriage and would have preferred it if gay couples only had civil partnerships.
The MP for South Northamptonshire had ‘positively abstained’ on the issue in 2013, voting both for and against same-sex marriage.
She has also been linked to a ‘gay cure’ group in Uganda.
