Andrea Leadsom made the comments last week (Picture: Getty Images)

Andrea Leadsom has said that it would be ‘sensible’ not to appoint a man to look after young children because he might be a paedophile.

Leadsom, who was yesterday appointed environment and rural affairs secretary in a brutal Cabinet reshuffle, pulled out of the Tory leadership contest after The Times reported she had suggested Theresa May did not have a ‘real stake’ in the future of the country because she had no children.

Now the paper has revealed that in the same interview, she implied that male carers of children could be paedophiles.

‘As an employer we’re not, let’s face it, most of us don’t employ men as nannies, most of us don’t,’ she said.


The new DEFRA secretary’s comments will likely anger men working in childcare (Picture: EPA)

‘Now you can call that sexist, I call that cautious and very sensible when you look at the stats. Your odds are stacked against you if you employ a man.



‘We know paedophiles are attracted to working with children.’

The comments will likely anger men working in the childcare industry.

According to a survey conducted by the Pre-school Learning Alliance, 97.9% of parents surveyed were happy for men to work with young children.

A source close to Leadsom told The Times that she had a male nanny for five years and was not suggesting that men could not do the job well.

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