Comments suggesting maternity pay has "gone too far" have been seized on by leadership opponents as Tory conference gets under way.

Since Badenoch made her comments, she’s now confirmed that she actually does "believe in maternity pay" and sees it as "a good thing". She claimed there was "some mischief being made on social media trying to misrepresent me" (despite her quotes being taken verbatim from the transcript).

Kemi Badenoch has argued that birth rates in the UK are falling because people are ‘scared to have families’. Badenoch, who is in the running to be the next leader of the Conservatives, campaign was bruised yesterday by a row over whether she had described maternity pay as ‘excessive’ during a radio interview.