Conservative leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch has described her husband as “frustrated” with how she is being portrayed after a Conservative colleague described her as “preoccupied” with her children.
The shadow minister described her husband Hamish as “the one looking after the children” in an interview with the BBC, and also said that he “worries” about her safety.
Ms Badenoch is competing with Robert Jenrick to secure the support of Conservative members in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak as party leader.
In an interview with the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast, the North West Essex MP said her spouse is “probably more frustrated than anyone else because he sees me being portrayed in a way that he simply doesn’t recognise”.
Pushed further on what she meant, Ms Badenoch said: “You would have heard the comments about ‘oh she spends too much time looking after her children’ and he’s thinking ‘I’m the one looking after the children. What are you talking about? Which of course he is.
“Yesterday night he couldn’t come to a reception with me because he had to look after the children and so on.”
Ms Badenoch said her partner also believes she gets “unfair criticism” and “worries about (her) safety”, as she described the impact as “quite tough”.
Last week, veteran Conservative MP Sir Christopher Chope – who is supporting Mr Jenrick in the leadership contest – said that the mother-of-three was “preoccupied” with her children, telling ITV that “you can’t spend all your time with your family” while leader of the opposition.
Mr Jenrick has distanced himself from the comments that were made on ITV’s The Last Word programme.
Mr Jenrick and Ms Badenoch are hoping to secure the support of party members in the final ballot of the leadership contest which is due to be concluded next week.
They were confirmed as the last two remaining candidates earlier this month, after James Cleverly failed to make it through the last round of MP voting in a surprise result.
Mr Jenrick told Newsnight on Tuesday evening that he would make Mr Cleverly the deputy party leader if he were to win the contest.
He told the programme he wants to “bring the Conservative family back together” and “get the best players on the pitch”.
He added: “James Cleverly, a great friend and colleague of mine, I’d like to make him the deputy leader of our party.”
Former immigration minister Mr Jenrick also claimed that he is the “change candidate” in the contest, having resigned from Mr Sunak’s government at the end of last year.
“I’ve been painfully clear that our party failed to deliver for the British public on some of the most important issues,” he said.
Pointing to the failure to keep to promises on immigration, he added: “That’s ultimately why I chose to resign.
“Unlike my opponent in this race, I left the government on a point of principle at the end of last year, so I am the change candidate in this.”
