Conservative leadership contender Andrea Leadsom texted Theresa May an apology after making out that she is better suited to the job of prime minister than the home secretary because she is a mother.

In an interview with The Times, Leadsom said May must be “really sad” not to have children and that as a mother she had a real stake in the future of the UK.

She said:

“I have children who are going to have children who will directly be part of what happens next”

Leadsom was widely criticised for the comments, which many viewed as an attack on May’s personal and private decisions about her own family.

Since becoming a candidate to lead the Tories, Leadsom has also come under fire for ‘sexing up’ her CV, where she greatly exaggerated her roles in the banking sector and at the Bank of England, according to colleagues at the time.

Leadsom’s “expertise” in the private sector and life as a mother are two of the main arguments her team have made for her abilities to take on the role of party leader and prime minister.

She is only member of the Leave campaign, which lied about a £350m a week investment in the NHS post-Brexit, to have not resigned.