Ben Bradley, who was promoted by Theresa May last week, said Britain would drown ‘in a vast sea of unemployed wasters’ if the poorest families had too many children (file pic)
Theresa May stood by her new youth Tsar today after he said sorry for suggesting men on benefits should get a vasectomy.
Ben Bradley, who was promoted by the PM last week, said Britain would drown ‘in a vast sea of unemployed wasters’ if the poorest families had too many children.
The controversial remarks came in a controversial and now deleted blog post written in 2012 in which he backed Tory reforms to bring in a benefits cap.
But Mrs May made clear Mr Bradley would not face any further action this afternoon after he apologised and insisted he had ‘matured’ over the past six years.
In the post he said it is ‘horrendous’ that there are families who can rake in more from benefits than average household earn ‘just because they have 10 kids’.
He added: ‘Sorry but how many children you have is a choice; if you can’t afford them, stop having them! Vasectomies are free.’
Mr Bradley, 28, who was elected MP for Mansfield in June, said it is wrong that families on benefits get put up in a council house and can afford gaming consoles while hard-working families struggled.
In comments published by Buzzfeed, he wrote: ‘People have to take responsibility for their own lives, and if they are struggling but working hard to help themselves then they should get help.
‘But if they choose to have 10 kids they should take responsibility for that choice and look after them, not expect everyone else to foot the bill!
‘Families who have never worked a day in their lives having 4 or 5 kids and the rest of us having 1 or 2 means it’s not long before we’re drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters that we pay to keep!
‘Iain Duncan Smith’s cap proposal is spot on!’
In a statement on the comments today, Mr Bradley said: ‘I apologise for these posts. My time in politics has allowed me to mature and I now realise that this language is not appropriate.’
A No 10 source said: ‘Mr Bradley has apologised for those comments. The PM thinks it is right that he did so.
‘I think he was 22 at the time he made them and has, himself, said he believes his work and the start of his career in politics has demonstrated to him why those views are wrong.’
Asked if he would keep his job, the source replied: ‘Yes.’
Mr Bradley was promoted to become the Tory party’s lead on youth engagement last week as Mrs May overhauled the party’s top ranks.
He has been tasked with helping to overhaul the party’s image so it can attract more young voters, who flocked to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party in the June election.
Ben Bradley, pictured far right outside No10 last week after he was promoted to be the party’s new youth Tsar, has apologised for the language he used in the blog
Outlining his vision for the party a few days ago, he said: ‘We really struggle to sell what we are trying to achieve.’
The Conservatives struggled to win young people’s votes in last year’s general election.
‘If the trends continue from 2017 in terms of young people, people from ethnic minorities who just don’t vote for us then we’re going to be in a mess.’
He admitted the party has not always been the ‘most engaging’ for younger voters and added: ‘We do need to make more of those people out in popular culture who are Conservatives.
‘We’ve seen Georgia Toffolo in the jungle. [We need] people like that who actually want to put this message across – and have a following and a different approach that, frankly, the average Conservative MP does not have.’