Labour MP accused rivals of using childlessness against her

Kendall, a former Labour leadership contender, has called for the creation of an 'Aunties' Day' to celebrate childless women.

The Labour MP, who accused her rivals during the leadership campaign of using her childlessness against her, said she was very proud to be an aunt.

'I'm very proud to be an aunty. One in five women in their 40s are now childless. I am one of those women but I love my nieces,' she told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

'I think an Aunties' Day would be a great idea so celebrate aunties today as well as mums.'

The 44 year-old had pointed to a column in a Sunday newspaper which had called on people to 'forget mothers' and instead focus on aunts.

Miss Kendall said: 'I would never say forget mums because it's Mother's Day and I will be seeing my own mother later on today.'

During the leadership campaign, Labour MP Helen Goodman infuriated Miss Kendall for saying she supported rival Yvette Cooper as a 'working mother'.

Miss Kendall's campaign team interpreted that as an attack on their candidate as a single and childless woman.

The Leicester West MP was later grilled over the comments, and told an audience: 'I want to have a politics where women are treated the same as men and they are not asked those kind of questions…I may not have children myself, but I am part of the best family in the world, my mum, my dad, my brothers and my nieces. I am very proud of that.'

She queried why male contenders Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham were not asked about their children.

On Sunday afternoon, Miss Kendall tweeted a picture of her parents, with the remark: 'So lovely to be able to celebrate #MothersDay, thinking about those who are not so lucky...'

Miss Kendall, who has never been married, was in a long term relationship with Inbetweeners actor Greg Davies, until the couple split just before the 2015 election.

Although Miss Kendall's call for an Aunties' Day may seem unorthodox, the original Mothering Sunday celebrated aunts and godmothers as well as mothers.

Mothering Sunday was originally formed to give a day off to domestic servants and to allow people to attend their local – or 'mother' - church.

Kendall, who has never been married, was in a long term relationship with Inbetweeners actor Greg Davies, until the couple split just before the 2015 election

The more commercial Mother's Day celebrated in May in the United States and in other countries gradually whittled down those honoured to just mothers.

Jody Day, the founder of Gateway Women, a support network for childless women, said it could be the most difficult day of the year for many.

She wrote on her blog that childless British women have to endure two bouts of Mother's Day: one on Mothering Sunday before Easter and another in May, describing it as 'a double dose of smugness, cloying sentimentality, alienation and disenfranchised grief'.

Miss Day added: 'Whether you are a couple struggling with infertility, or one of the many women who have been unable to find a suitable partner before your childbearing years draw to a close, or if you haven't had children for one of many other reasons, Mother's Day can be very raw indeed.

'Perhaps it would help if we could extend the idea of 'mothering' to include all those women who are mothers in their hearts, but aren't biological mothers. To think of 'Mother' as a verb, not a noun, it's something you do rather than something that you are.'

One in five British women aged 45 and over do not have children.