Kemi Badenoch has said her remarks about maternity pay have been "misrepresented", as she called for an "honest campaign" for the Tory leadership. The first day of the Conservative Party conference saw a row erupt over comments made by the shadow housing secretary,

Statutory maternity pay is “excessive” and the red tape around the benefit has “gone too far”, Kemi Badenoch has suggested.

Kemi Badenoch says ‘of course’ she believes in maternity pay after appearing to call it 'excessive' - The Tory leadership hopeful said that ‘contrary to what some have said’ she does support maternity

We need to have more personal responsibility - there was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies." Badenoch later said that sh

There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies’. Kemi Badenoch remains the clear favourite amongst Tory members to be next leader, according to the latest survey of members from the ConservativeHome website.

Robert Jenrick said that the party should be ‘firmly on the side of parents’ in the wake of Ms Badenoch’s interview.

Conservative leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch has said she does believe in maternity pay hours after calling on people to have ‘more personal responsibility’ over the benefit. The former business secretary told Times Radio this morning: ‘There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies.