Kemi Badenoch ‘quit her magazine job rather than take unfair maternity leave’ after having her second child, her biographer reveals (and shortened her time off with third to run for re-election)

Kemi Badenoch quit her job rather than take maternity leave when she had her second child because she thought it would be “unfair” for her employer to take him.

The favorite of the Conservative leadership, in conflict over maternity pay, is said to have resigned from her position as head of digital at Spectator magazine in 2016 instead of taking her legal leave.

In Blue Ambition, an unauthorized biography of the former business secretary written by her Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft, the magazine’s editor, Fraser Nelson, said he was very grateful to her for doing so.

He told the author “she thought it would be unfair to ask us to keep her job open while she was on maternity leave.”

It comes as Ms Badenoch attempted to recover from a row over comments she made that maternity pay was an “excessive” tax burden on businesses.

And this isn’t the only time she didn’t take advantage of her available maternity time. In 2019, she cut her campaign short so she could campaign for the December general election after having her third child.

After being re-elected in Saffron Walden, she then took the oath of allegiance to MPs while carrying her daughter in a sling.

She earlier told the Mail: “Maternity leave doesn’t exist during an election. You can’t tell voters, “Sorry, I’m taking care of my baby.” » That’s part of the deal. »

By the time she left the Spectator, Ms Badenoch was already married to her investment banker husband Hamish, meaning there was another source of family income.

She was also a member of the London Assembly at the time, with a salary of £56,269.

But Mr Nelson told his biographer: ‘After finding out she was pregnant, she told me she thought it would be unfair to ask us to keep her job open while she was on furlough. maternity.” So she quit to have her baby.

“She would have had the right not to do that. As an employer, I really appreciated it. We are a small business. We would have struggled to find someone decent to fill her role as back-up digital head while she was on maternity leave.

“Media is evolving so quickly that technology leadership is important and a year is a long time to waste. But we didn’t waste any time because of the way she handled the situation. It was an unusual thing to do. She did it out of loyalty to the magazine and, above all, out of decency, I think.

The Conservative candidate stressed her determination to make things more “comfortable” for expectant parents as she spoke to campaigners at the party’s conference in Birmingham.

She also said that having a family was “probably the most meaningful thing any of us can do.”

Allies have complained about a “Stop Kemi” campaign by supporters of his rival Robert Jenrick, who seized on his vague comments yesterday on work allowances for mothers.

Answering questions on the sidelines of a Conservative women’s organisation, Ms Badenoch was asked how she would support falling birth rates in the UK.

“I think there are things we need to do to ensure that we make life comfortable for people starting families,” she responded, citing examples such as maternity pay, child care children and housing.

“A lot of people are having fewer children because they start having them later.

“And so they just can’t have as many as maybe they would like.” Some people feel like they can’t afford to have children. I often think that too many people worry about money more than they should.

“But we have to give people confidence. People are afraid of starting a family, they worry about whether they will be able to afford it, they worry about whether they will experience birth trauma.

Ms Badenoch said people “need to talk about families as… how amazing they are, how having a family is probably the most meaningful thing any of us can do”.