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Andrea Leadsom defended as establishment 'gangs up' Iain Duncan Smith claims 'black ops' bid to 'denigrate' Leadsom
(about 4 hours later)
Andrea Leadsom's campaign manager has defended the Tory leadership candidate as a "fresh face" who the establishment is "ganging up on". Tory leadership contender Andrea Leadsom faces a "'black ops' operation to denigrate her reputation", former leader Iain Duncan Smith has said.
A row erupted after Mrs Leadsom was accused of saying that having children made her a better choice of leader. Mr Duncan Smith told ITV she was qualified to be the next PM amid claims the junior minister lacks experience.
But Conservative MP Tim Loughton told the BBC the energy minister's comments showed her passion for her family, adding: "That's what fires her up". It follows a row over an interview she gave to the Times headlined "Being a mother gives me the edge on May".
Meanwhile allies of rival Theresa May have criticised Mrs Leadsom. Mr Duncan Smith said she was mortified at the way it was presented - critics say it shows she is "not PM material".
The Sunday Times said some 20 MPs are ready to form a breakaway party if Mrs Leadsom is elected as leader. It comes as Mrs Leadsom published her tax return for 2014-15, showing she paid £22,621 in tax on total income of £83,930 but also recorded a tax-free capital gain of £9,270. Her rival, Theresa May, has already published her tax details over four years.
'Project Smear' Head-to-head: The women hoping to be PM
The newspaper said some of Mrs Leadsom's colleagues have called on her to stand down from the leadership race, quoting business minister Anna Soubry as saying she should "do us all a favour". Are women taking over British politics?
But it reports that one of Mrs Leadsom's backers - former cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith - said the attacks meant "Project Fear" from the EU referendum campaign "has morphed into Project Smear". Profile: Theresa May
Mr Loughton, who is also godfather to Mrs Leadsom's eldest son, told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "The establishment are ganging up... it's all about 'let's gang up on Andrea'." Profile: Andrea Leadsom
Although Mrs Leadsom is known to be more socially conservative than home secretary Mrs May, Mr Loughton said: "There is nothing traditional about Andrea in this respect... This is a fresh candidate who has much more experience outside politics than all the other candidates put together." Guide to the contest
Mr Duncan Smith later told ITV's Peston on Sunday that Mrs Leadsom was "genuinely mortified" at the fallout over her interview with The Times. Meanwhile, the Sunday Times said some 20 MPs are ready to form a breakaway party if Mrs Leadsom is elected as leader over Home Secretary Theresa May, and reported that some of Mrs Leadsom's colleagues have called on her to stand down from the leadership race.
"She's really, really passionate about children and her children," he said, adding: "Talking about your family shouldn't be a crime". Asked about the story on ITV's Peston on Sunday, former Work and Pensions Secretary Mr Duncan Smith urged them to "calm down" and suggested people would "come to regret some of the silliest things they say".
'Weakness' 'Ganging up'
However, former shadow home secretary David Davis told the Marr programme: "It's not about intelligence, or good will, it's just experience." Mr Duncan Smith, who was Conservative leader from 2001 to 2003, said: "I've seen it all before - the reality is that both of them are qualified.
He said Mrs Leadsom had come under pressure in the last week, but events had been "nothing like as pressurised as the prime minister's job". "Look, if Andrea was so unqualified to be prime minister, and you know we've had a lot of sniping, a kind of real 'black-ops' operation to denigrate her reputation. If she was so bad what in heaven's sake would the prime minister be doing making her a serious government minister?"
Mr Davis, who supports Mrs May's leadership bid, added that she was a junior minister who would be "leaping to the most difficult job in government at the most difficult time in our history". Meanwhile Mrs Leadsom's campaign manager, Tim Loughton, said: "The establishment seem to be 'getting Andrea', it's all about 'let's gang up on Andrea'."
"She's intelligent and charming and so on", he said, but her inexperience was a "weakness". The Conservative MP, who is also godfather to Mrs Leadsom's eldest son, said Mrs Leadsom had made it "absolutely clear" in her interview with the Times that she had not intended "her passion for her family and her children to be taken in any way derogatory towards Theresa" and she had mentioned it because her family was "what fires her up".
Employment minister Priti Patel, who campaigned for Brexit alongside Mrs Leadsom, also suggested that Mrs Leadsom lacked the experience to win a general election. He denied suggestions that Mrs Leadsom was part of a movement by the traditional Conservative right to take back the party from the Cameron modernisers: "There is nothing traditional about Andrea in this respect. This is not about trying to take back control of the Conservative Party. This is a fresh candidate who has much more experience outside politics than all the other candidates put together."
Ms Patel, who is also backing Mrs May's campaign, compared the home secretary to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and said her experience was "second to none". 'Inexperience'
Asked about the Tory MPs who threatened to quit if Mrs Leadsom should be elected, Mr Duncan Smith said: "Calm down for God's sake, this is a leadership election and I think people will regret some of the things they have said." Former shadow home secretary David Davis told the BBC: "I don't think I can see malice in this last incident, the so called mother-gate thing. But inexperience. Inexperience in her response to that, inexperience in her proposals to trigger article 50 the moment she wins, if she were to win.
He said Mrs Leadsom is "absolutely a decent, honourable person". "There are lots and lots of things that she's done in the first week or two which show really she's not got the experience. I mean she's a junior minister at the moment and she's leaping to the most difficult job in government at the most difficult time in our history."
"I long ago decided that if and when the time was right I would like to see her at the head of the party," Mr Duncan Smith added. But Energy Minister Mrs Leadsom - who campaigned for a Leave vote in the EU referendum - has won the backing of outgoing UKIP leader Nigel Farage and the head of the Leave.EU campaign, businessman Arron Banks.
Ukip support Mr Farage told the Mail on Sunday said: "Mrs Leadsom may lack cabinet experience, but I can attest to the fact that she has the guts."
Meanwhile, the outgoing Ukip leader Nigel Farage and the head of the Leave EU campaign, Ukip donor Arron Banks, have voiced their support for Mrs Leadsom. And Mr Banks told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show that if Mrs May, who supported a Remain vote in the referendum, won the leadership race, it would result in "the death of Brexit by a thousand cuts" and predicted UKIP would be "back with a vengeance".
Writing in The Mail on Sunday, Mr Farage said she has the "guts" to take on Brussels. Mrs Leadsom has said she is "no Ukip sympathiser" and told The Times: "They don't advise me, I don't know them, I've never even met Arron Banks."
He said: "I do not see Mrs May having the courage to do what is necessary to claim back the internationally recognised 200-mile fishing limit. Mrs Leadsom may lack cabinet experience, but I can attest to the fact that she has the guts." Chris Grayling, who like Mrs Leadsom campaigned for a Leave vote in the referendum campaign, but is backing Mrs May, told the BBC's Sunday Politics: "The key thing now is having the right person for the job."
Mr Banks told the Marr programme that if Mrs May won, Ukip would be "back with a vengeance". "I have known Theresa May for a very long time. She's a very determined politician. I know that having got a mandate from the public to deliver Brexit, she will do that. I wouldn't be supporting her if that wasn't the case," he said.
Claiming that the Conservative party has a "dying membership", he said: "I think there's a huge opportunity for a different type of party".
Mr Banks said: "The elite have hated the referendum because it took the power away from them and actually I think this has been a wonderful thing."
Yet Mrs Leadsom has insisted she is "no Ukip sympathiser" and told The Times: "They don't advise me, I don't know them, I've never even met Arron Banks.
"My big hope in this campaign is that when we leave the EU that Ukip will be a thing of the past," she added.