Kemi Badenoch has compared herself to Margaret Thatcher after claiming she was misunderstood over her comments on maternity pay.
The Tory leadership hopeful suggested her critics had attacked her by using a soundbite from a cut down interview. During the interview she said maternity pay was “excessive” and had gone “too far”.
She rowed back on her comments on Sunday night after widespread criticism, claiming “of course” she believes in maternity pay. But the row has continued to dominate the annual Tory conference. Yesterday Ms Badenoch was greeted by nervous applause when she said things were “going well” after the start was dogged by bitter infighting.
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Addressing party faithful, she insisted she does think maternity pay is “important” and that her comments were taken out of context. She compared herself to the former Tory PM, who is often quoted as saying: “There is no such thing as society.” Ms Badenoch said this quote had come from an interview Mrs Thatcher had done with Women’s Own magazine where a “very good explanation got cut down into a soundbite that was used to attack her”.
She continued: “When you are a leader, when you are a Conservative, when you are making the argument for Conservative principles, your opponents are going to try and turn it into something else. We need to decide who's going to be leader of the party, not the left, not the Guardian, not the BBC, just Conservatives.”
In a disastrous interview on Sunday, the former Equalities Minister described maternity pay as a form of tax on workers and said families need to take "more personal responsibility" when asked about people who can't afford to have a baby. Asked if the UK has got the right level of maternity pay at present as it's one of the lowest rates in the OECD, Ms Badenoch said statutory maternity pay was "a function of tax".
"Tax comes from people who are working, we're taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive," she told Times Radio. Pressed on it being "excessive", she said: "I think it's gone too far the other way in terms of general business regulation."
Labour politicians said they were "lost for words" - and accused her of using "bizarre logic" and spouting "ideological nonsense". A spokesperson for Maternity Action said: “The UK’s system of maternity pay and benefits is far from excessive. Many women tell us that the woefully inadequate levels drive them to use food banks for the first time during their pregnancy and maternity leave."
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