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Badenoch battles to keep leadership bid on track after attacking maternity pay

Kemi Badenoch was last night frantically battling to keep her Tory leadership bid on track after her claims that maternity pay was “excessive” sparked a backlash.

Her Conservative rivals were quick to distance themselves from the comments, insisting they did not agree with the former business secretary, prompting her to row back on her remarks.

It comes as each of the four leadership contenders are vying to appeal to the membership over the next few days at the party’s annual conference in Birmingham, before the field is whittled down to the final two next month.

Ms Badenoch’s comments mark the first major misstep in the leadership campaign, and prompted a fresh bout of infighting between the rival camps.

Speaking to Times Radio, Ms Badenoch appeared to criticise statutory maternity pay as she said the Government is doing “too much”.

Describing statutory maternity pay as “a function of tax”, she said: “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.”

Arguing that businesses are closing because “the burden of regulation is too high”, she added: “We need to allow businesses, especially small businesses, to make more of their own decisions.

When pressed that the amount of maternity pay is important for people who cannot otherwise afford to have a baby, Ms Badenoch said: “We need to have more personal responsibility.

“There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies.”

The comments sparked a serious backlash from within the party, with her main challenger Robert Jenrick telling a conference fringe event: “I don’t agree with Kemi on this one. I am a father of three young daughters. I want to see them get the support that they need when they enter the workplace.

“Our maternity pay is among the lowest in the OECD.

“I think the Conservative Party should be firmly in the side of parents and working mums who are trying to get on.”

Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly also distanced themselves from the comments. Mr Tugendhat said it is “important that women have the ability to choose how to live their lives”.

Ms Badenoch later attempted to clarify her words, while appearing to take a swipe at her leadership opponents for stirring up the backlash.

Taking to social media, she said: “Contrary to what some have said, I clearly said the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far… of course I believe in maternity pay!”

A campaign source added: “Infighting and internal conflicts helped take our party to an historic defeat. We need to be better, we need our politics to be better. Kemi obviously supports maternity pay and was making a case for lower regulation – something she always aimed for as business secretary.

“For other leadership campaigns to be seeking to use selective quotes from an interview to score political hits, shows they’re still wedded to the old politics and simply aren’t serious about getting back to government.”

But the issue had undoubtedly been damaging for the Badenoch camp’s leadership bid, with one Tory source sniping: “I see we’re the party that is now opposed to pregnant women.”

A former Cabinet minister said the comments should act as a warning to Tory party members who are thinking of voting for Ms Badenoch.

“This is a big test for the membership – do they want to win the next election? In which case the support of young women and parents will be essential, so they should not support Kemi. Or do they want to elect someone who won’t help them reach those sorts of voters?”

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