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Original poster

#MothersAgainstLeadsom please help

63 replies

cheerfullysleepless · 09/07/2016 09:01

I really hoped the Times had done a stitch up on Leadsom as did not want to believe that any politician could be so cruel as to in any way try to use a rival candidate's infertility to point score but have heard the audio, read the transcript (attached) and it's exactly what she did. I'm an old raving leftie so not a natural May fan at all but to me this feeds the misogynist media monster that asks female politicians about children etc where it so rarely would men and is underpinned by a patronising assumption that mothers are a homogenous group who care more about the country than those who don't have kids. It's horrendous and regressive. I've got sod all understanding of social media but want to send some sort of message back that it's not just pesto eating liberal metropolitan so and sos wound up by this but the demographic I think she's going for. If you agree at all please please tweet or fb or whatever else there is out there to say so with the tag #MothersAgainstLeadsom

#MothersAgainstLeadsom please help
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pigsDOfly · 11/07/2016 15:29

Rather get the impression that that interview was one of the - many - reasons she has withdrawn from the leadership race.

Shot herself in the foot methinks.

polyhymnia · 11/07/2016 14:34

Absolutely!

HappydaysArehere · 10/07/2016 00:47

Leadsom is a calculating, over confident inexperienced woman. She knows she has little to offer compared to Theresa May and her remarks today were stomach turning. Then she tried to wriggle out of the situation by denying the content of the report and tweeting it was gutter press reporting. She is so inexperienced that she didn't even realise she was being recorded. Did you notice the intonation when she said "children"? It was over run with treacle - pathetic.

Brokenbiscuit · 09/07/2016 10:36

Annihilation by her own words, surely.

Yes, quite. She can't blame the media for reporting what she actually said. Perhaps she didn't expect the focus of the article to be on that particular part of the conversation, but that just shows a complete lack of political astuteness. If she hadn't made those despicable comments in the first place, The Times would have had nothing to quote.

For all her blustering protests against the article though, I guess that she has still made her point, and perhaps some of the more conservative elements of the Tory party will get behind her because of it.

Fluffy, no decent person judges others on whether or not they have been fortunate enough to have children.Flowers As Leadsom has amply demonstrated, being a mother is no guarantee of anything at all.

ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe · 09/07/2016 10:35

If she managed to fuck up a simple interview just imagine what she can do with the EU negotiations.

I'm appauled and discusted, and I didn't say it.
Merkel and Juncker."Here is the transcript"

Original poster
cheerfullysleepless · 09/07/2016 10:32

Fluffy no - no no no no!!! No one sane thinks like this at all and my whole objection is having such ugly views presented as somehow those of mothers - it's tactless inane illogical nonsense. Please don't let her hurt your feelings this way she's a fool.

Portia - am with you, Murdoch influence shocking generally but in this case she's done her own hatchet job.

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GertrudeSmellsDivine · 09/07/2016 10:24

I know she said the media shouldn't have printed it - she made herself look very stupid by saying that.

Fluffy Flowers Personally, I don't think those things at all.

mogloveseggs · 09/07/2016 10:22

What an absolute bitch!

Fluffycloudland77 · 09/07/2016 10:17

It's had me snivelling all morning, is this really what mums think of us? I'd love to have kids. My Dh had cancer & the dr told his mum he could freeze semen but she never passed the message on to him or questioned why he hadn't done it. The dr never told Dh himself.

The pain of infertility is crushing, you get used to that. The thought that other women look down on you for it or think themselves superior is awful.

I'm still a person with feeling.

MiddleClassProblem · 09/07/2016 10:15

She doesn't deny it from what I've seen, just says they shouldn't have printed it

GertrudeSmellsDivine · 09/07/2016 10:13

I've listened to the audio of that interview and if it hasn't been chopped about, she's shown that she's not savvy enough for the job.
She's also obviously a nasty piece of work to be saying that shit then trying to blame others rather than take responsibility for her own words.

SuburbanRhonda · 09/07/2016 10:12

Annihilation by her own words, surely.

Brokenbiscuit · 09/07/2016 10:10

Portia, why annihilation by the media? Have you read the direct quotes from Leadsom?

PortiaCastis · 09/07/2016 10:07

Aniilation by the media yet again. It's clear who Murdoch wants as PM

MiddleClassProblem · 09/07/2016 10:07

I like cheerfully's idea

SlinkyVagabond · 09/07/2016 10:03

The embellishment of her cv, her stance on gay marriage and fox hunting were enough to convince me that she is an absolutely foul piece of work, then this comes along.I'm an old lefty too, but I'd rather see the country lead by someone with actual experience and who is less partial to sensational sound bites.

megletthesecond · 09/07/2016 09:59

amnes that was quite funny. I thought you or your phone had had a funny turn.

#mothersagainstleadsom

SlightlyperturbedOwl · 09/07/2016 09:55

It's just plain mean. What a horrible cow. One thing to say it if you know someone has chosen not to have children, though still pretty irrelevant, but a whole new level of meanness if you know someone would have liked to and couldn't.

Original poster
cheerfullysleepless · 09/07/2016 09:53

Think one way to get people sharing would be if posts were funny or reflected common experiences etc. So something like "because finding acceptance with your kid watching you wee is not a core PM competency #MothersAgainstLeadsom" - I don't really understand Twitter and normally just follow not post but so fired up about this nastiness

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jellycat1 · 09/07/2016 09:50

Jeez I hadn't realised it was quite like that. What slime she is. On top of 'embellishing' her cv.

Original poster
cheerfullysleepless · 09/07/2016 09:45

More meant year nine are the earls of social media though in fairness more snapchat than Twitter if memory serves!!! Thanks so much for passing to friend! Just feel powerless at mo watching politics get nastier and nastier and this was the best I could think of to do about it x

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MiddleClassProblem · 09/07/2016 09:45

I bet she wouldn't be casing this point to a man with now children either

ellennussey1 · 09/07/2016 09:45

'I don't want this to be Andrea has children Theresa doesn't BUT.....'

Trying to discredit a journalist for words she actually said is a new low in politics

MiddleClassProblem · 09/07/2016 09:45

The fact that she's now saying its there fault for publishing what she said is ridiculous. What a woman.

Brokenbiscuit · 09/07/2016 09:42

I'm no fan of May, and I disliked Leadsom from the referendum debates in any case - even then, she couldn't stop banging on about being a mother/grandmother. Disliked her even more when I heard about her stance on gay marriage etc.

But what she has said to the Times is despicable. Theresa May deserves to be taken to task on her record in the home office, and for her shared responsibility as a senior cabinet minister for all the crap that this government has landed on us. But to be blamed for her infertility problems? Seriously?

What a complete bitch Leadsom is, but I think hope this will backfire on her.