Amber Rudd rounded on Tory leadership contenders last night for ‘parading’ their wives in a bid to win support.

The Work and Pensions Secretary also complained it was ‘all the men’ putting themselves forward to succeed Theresa May at the moment.

Her comments were seen as a criticism of leadership frontrunners Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab who both appeared in public with their wives last week.

Amber Rudd rounded on Tory leadership contenders last night for ‘parading’ their wives in a bid to win support, in an apparent dig at leadership frontrunners Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab

Last week Mr Hunt described his Chinese wife Lucia as Britain’s ‘secret weapon’ and the ‘perfect foreign secretary’s wife’ after she joined him on a seven-day, five country tour of Africa.

Mr Raab was pictured in the kitchen of his Surrey home with his Brazilian wife, Erika Rey, in a newspaper profile.

In an interview with Newsnight, Miss Rudd said instead of parading their partners, leadership candidates should be talking about policy.

‘Don’t wind me up just because it is all the men putting themselves forward at the moment,’ she said.

Mr Raab was pictured in the kitchen of his Surrey home with his Brazilian wife, Erika Rey, in a newspaper profile

Last week Mr Hunt described his Chinese wife Lucia as Britain’s ‘secret weapon’ and the ‘perfect foreign secretary’s wife’ after she joined him on a seven-day, five country tour of Africa

‘People have a different way of addressing this leadership issue. I don’t think we need to parade partners in the way that we have been seeing.’

‘I am much more interested in the policies that people want to bring forward than the actual people. When it comes to that election leadership I think that is what will really influence the voters.’

The Sunday Times reported Mrs Raab describing how she met her husband while studying in London, calling it ‘an instant attraction’.

Mr Hunt said of his wife: ‘Diplomacy is about building relationships, principally with foreigners. And Lucia happens to be a foreigner and very good at getting on with absolutely anybody. So she is the perfect foreign secretary’s wife.’