New Cabinet Minister Andrea Leadsom has warned it would be sensible not to employ a man to look after children in case they are a paedophile.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has now called for the Prime Minister to sack her from the cabinet, just 24 hours after her appointment.
Ms Leadsom was appointed Environment Secretary after she quit the Tory run-off and allowed Theresa May to become party leader without a membership vote, insisted parents needed to be cautious when dealing with childcare.
“As an employer we’re not, let’s face it, most of us don’t employ men as nannies, most of us don’t. Now you can call that sexist, I call that cautious and very sensible when you look at the stats,” she said.
“Your odds are stacked against you if you employ a man. We know paedophiles are attracted to working with children. I’m sorry but they’re the facts,” Ms Leadsom told The Times.
The interview was conducted last week when Ms Leadsom was still a contender for the Tory crown.
It follows the publication of earlier extracts in which she appeared to suggest being a mother made her better placed to be prime minister than Mrs May because she had a “very real stake” in the future of Britain.
Ms Leadsom’s views on childcare are out of kilter with society, according to a survey conducted by the Pre-School Learning Alliance of 1,200 mothers and fathers cited by the newspaper.
The survey found that 97.9% were happy for men to work with children aged between three and five in day nurseries, and 89% were fine with men working with children under three.
The minister, who faced accusations that she had embellished her CV in the brief, but bitter, Tory leadership race, also raised concern about rules stopping parents asking nannies if they planned to have children of their own.
She said: “So we want to employ women and of course, generally speaking, we want to employ young women, motherly figures, and what do they want to do? They want to have their own children. So it is a bit of a … ‘Are you going to have a baby?
“I’m not allowed to ask you but would you mind?’ Do you know what I mean? It’s stupid. I genuinely feel in those areas you do actually need a balance. And it’s not fair,” Ms Leadsom said.
Former shadow education secretary Lucy Powell told The Times: “These comments show an enormous lack of judgement on Andrea’s part.
“She should know as well as I know that not only are men just as capable of doing childcare jobs but we should want to encourage more men into those jobs as they can bring other benefits.”
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron branded Mrs Leadsom’s comments “stupid”and “ignorant” and called for her to be sacked.
He said: “Andrea Leadsom has let yet another of her masks slip. I have to admire The Times – journalists are there to hold politicians to account and this interview was clearly a masterclass in doing just that.
“These remarks are stupid, ignorant and not ones any minister should be making. Over the last day Theresa May has shown she is willing to relieve ministers of their duties and she must do so again now.
“It is inconceivable that somebody who holds such offensive, ignorant views should be sat around the Cabinet table.”
Labour shadow minister Jon Ashworth said: “This is an extraordinarilyoffensive statement from the new Environment Secretary.
“Andrea Leadsom should apologise immediately and the Prime Minister should also distance herself from these comments.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokeswoman said: “These were personal views that were expressed, and she, as in Andrea Leadsom, has said that she employed a male nanny for five years, and doesn’t think that men, or fathers, shouldn’t be nannies.”