Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has claimed issues within the Conservative Party "go back a long way", as she recalled having a gender terminology debate with another Tory minister.
Braverman, who held her seat in Fareham and Waterlooville in last week's General Election, told GB News of her struggle to obtain maternity leave after the law was "blocked" by Penny Mordaunt.
Detailing the incident, Braverman told Steven Edginton that the former minister for the Cabinet Office sparked an "internal debate" over the language used in her maternity leave legislation.
Braverman recalled to Steven: "When I was Attorney General, I was pregnant with my second child, and I went to tell Boris Johnson. He was very supportive and he said 'this is fantastic news, whatever we need to do, we'll do it'.
Suella Braverman revealed she had a 'terminology debate' with Penny Mordaunt about maternity leave
PA / GBN America
"In order to allow me to have some maternity leave, we needed to draft a new law, and we drafted the law."
Noting Mordaunt's efforts to change the legislation, Braverman said: "The responsibility was given to the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Penny Mordaunt at the time.
"We got into a debate internally and it also played out in the Commons and in the Lords in Parliament about the wording to be used in this legislation."
Revealing that the issue related to the use of the term "pregnant person", Braverman said her belief is that "only a woman can be pregnant", but Mordaunt was insistent on generalising the term.
Former Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt told Braverman that the law should say 'pregnant person', not 'pregnant woman'
PA
Braverman explained: "I believe that only a woman can be pregnant, but the minister said we needed to use the terminology 'pregnant person' in the legislation, to allow me to have some maternity leave.
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"So that we could be inclusive, so that we could be kind, and so that we could be progressive."
Highlighting the issues within the Conservative Party both past and present, Braverman said that "these are the kind of problems" being debated between MPs and ministers.
Braverman added: "That was the kind of debate that I was having about a seemingly non-controversial matter in government, not with civil servants, but with fellow ministers. So that, I hope, illustrates the kind of problem that we're dealing with.
"And until we get to grips with the extent of the problem, we have no chance of fixing it."
Suella Braverman says problems in the Conservative party 'go back a long way'
GBN America
Discussing the Conservatives' defeat in the General Election, Braverman said the party has "no chance" of regaining the trust of voters who have "fallen out of love" with the Tories, unless drastic changes are made.
Braverman told GB News: "Until we get to grips with the extent of the problem, we have no chance of fixing it.
"And importantly, we have no chance of regaining the trust of millions of Conservative voters who have fallen out of love with us."
