Tory leadership race: Andrea Leadsom apologises to Theresa May over motherhood comments

Mrs Leadsom said she had felt “under attack” since the row over her comments, which were branded “vile” by one senior Tory MP while a fellow minister said it showed she was unsuitable for Number 10.

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In an interview with The Times, Mrs Leadsom said: “Genuinely I feel that being a mum means you have a very real stake in the future of our country, a tangible stake.”

The Home Secretary has previously spoken about how she and husband Philip were affected by being unable to have children.

Mrs Leadsom told the Daily Telegraph she believed that having children has “no bearing on the ability to be PM”.

“I absolutely said, what I specifically said, is that motherhood should not play a part in the campaign,” she said.

“I was pressed to say how my children had formed my views. I didn’t want it to be used as an issue. Having children has no bearing on the ability to be PM. I deeply regret that anyone has got the impression that I think otherwise.”

Asked if she would apologise to Mrs May she said: “I’ve already said to Theresa how very sorry I am for any hurt I have caused and how that article said completely the opposite of what I said and believe.”

Mrs Leadsom said she felt “under attack, under enormous pressure. It has been shattering”.

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In the wake of her Times interview, business minister Anna Soubry said Mrs Leadsom’s comments meant she was “not PM material” while Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said there was a “gulf in class” between the two candidates and senior MP Sir Alan Duncan said the energy minister’s remarks were “vile”.

But Mrs Leadsom’s key supporter Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, claimed she is facing a “black-ops” campaign by MPs who want to “denigrate her reputation”.

Mr Duncan Smith told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I was talking about the wider operation here, which is during the course of the last week we have seen the most remarkable and unprecedented attempts to cast Andrea Leadsom in the most ridiculous ways.

“I’ve had conversations with people who want to vote for her who’ve been told they couldn’t vote for her because she was an extremist, there were all sorts of suggestions that somehow she was deeply Ukip when in fact that’s her sole purpose in life is to destroy Ukip by getting the Conservative Party in the right place over the vote to leave.

“These were real charges being made throughout whispering campaigns.”

He also said Mrs Leadsom was “angry” over the coverage of her motherhood comments but admitted “attacking journalists is rather like the sailor attacking the sea”.

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The former Tory leader added: “But the reality is it showed immediately she saw what they had taken from that, how angry and mortified she was about it. The apology to Theresa is heartfelt.”

Mrs Leadsom apologised by text, and a spokeswoman for Mrs May said: “Theresa was very grateful for the message and thanked Andrea for it.”